o  g|  icatimtal  fcjdjofegt}  Houojgrap^s 


Southern  Branch 
of  the 

University  of  California 


Los  Angeles 


Form  L   I 

LB 
1 


'('1.1.1      UCIUW 


«**  i .  ... 


Form  L-9-15»i-10,'25 


WHEN  SHOULD  A  CHILD  BEGIN 
SCHOOL  ? 


lEfturattmtal  fflflgrfyologij  fmotragrapfra 

WHEN  SHOULD  A  CHILD 
BEGIN  SCHOOL  ? 

An   Inquiry  Into  the  Relation  Between  the  Age  of  Entry 
and  School  Progress. 


W.  H.  WINCH 

2C  &  (o  I 

Honorary  Treasurer   British  Psychological  Society  ;    Member   of    the    British    Association    Com- 
mittee (or  Mental  Measurements  ;    Chairman  of  the    Committee   of    the    Teachers' 
Guild  of  Great  Britain  and   Ireland  on  Psychological   Research  in 
Schools;    Inspector  of  Schools  for  the  London 
County  Council. 

Author  of  "Problems  in  Education,"  "German  Schools,"  etc. 


Salttmnrr 

WARWICK  &   YORK,   Inc. 

1911 


Copyright  1911 

BY 

WARWICK  &  YORK,   Inc. 


■ 
3  Wt 

i 

V9 


<d 


Prefatory  Note 1 

Statistical  Note 3 

I.  Introduction 7 

II.  Age  of  Entry  and  Subsequent  Progress  in  Senior 

Schools 9 

III.  Age  of  Entry  and  Progress  in  Infants'  Depart- 

ments             39 

IV.  Age  of  Entry  in  Its  Relation  to  the  Social  Circum- 

stances of  the  Children 77 

V.  Influence  of  Early  Entry  on  Behaviour  and  Atten- 

tiveness 89 

VI.  Summarized  Conclusions 94 

Index 97 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 

The  results  of  this  inquiry  are  now  to  be  pub- 
lished for  the  first  time.  Some  of  them  have  been 
privately  circulated,  and  a  few  of  the  tables,  to- 
gether with  the  methods  employed,  were  discussed 
at  a  meeting  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  Education 
Committee  for  London  in  the  Autumn  of  1905. 

I  tender  my  thanks  to  Sir  Francis  Galton  and  Pro- 
fessor Karl  Pearson,  who,  some  years  ago,  kindly 
considered  this  research  in  its  statistical  aspects; 
but  I  hasten  to  say  that  the  responsibility  for  all 
error,  both  of  method  and  calculation,  is  wholly 
mine. 

I  wish  also  to  express  my  indebtedness  to  the 
teachers  who  helped  me  in  this  inquiry,  especially 
to  those  who  assisted  me  in  preparing  the  tables 
and  working  out  the  coefficients  of  correlation. 

I  started  the  inquiry  with  an  opinion  in  favour 
of  early  entry;  but  my  only  regret  at  the  conclu- 
sion arrived  at  is  due  to  the  pain,  as  of  wasted 
effort,  felt  by  more  than  one  excellent  Infants' 
Mistress  to  whom  the  full  force  of  the  figures  came 
home. 

W.  H.  W. 

London,  August,  1910. 


STATISTICAL    NOTE. 

The  formula  for  correlation  which  is  used  through- 
out the  following  research  is  the  well-known  Pear- 
son formula : 

r— * 

Its  meaning  and  application  will  become  clearer 
to  the  non-statistical  if  it  is  considered  in  relation  to 
one  or  two  examples. 

Let  us  suppose  that  we  have  seven  boys  who  re- 
ceive marks  for  Arithmetic  and  marks  for  English 
Composition;  and  let  us  suppose,  for  illustrative 
purposes,  that  the  marks  are  as  given  in  the  follow- 


ing  table 

: 

.   o 

73 

a 

.     O 

■d 

u~~ 

Of 

t-~ 

Ov 

Of 

■-, 

°.~ 

h 

<w  * 

S3 

03 

, 

«a 

02   O 

3 

0) 

a 

H  S3 
t-  +■» 

05 

sa 

09 

05 

A 

as 

to 

03 

SO 

05 

93 

A.  B. 

7 

+3 

9 

14 

+  6 

36 

+  18 

C.  D. 

G 

+2 

4 

12 

+  4 

16 

+  8 

\. 

E.  F. 

5 

+  1 

1 

10 

+  2 

4 

+  2 

\ 

G.  H. 

4 

0 

0 

8 

0 

0 

0 

I.  J. 

3 

—1 

1 

0 

2 

4 

+  2 

y 

K.  L. 

2 

2 

4 

4 

. — 4 

16 

+  8 

M.  N. 

Av.: 

1 
=4 

—3 

Total= 

!) 
-28 

2 
Av.=8 

— G 
Total= 

30 

+  18 

112  Sui 

ai=56 

Av. 

=4 

Av.= 

=10 

V4: 

=  2 

V16 

=  4 

A  casual  glance  will  show  us  that  there  is  a  per- 
fect positive  correlation  between  the  marks  for  the 
two  subjects,  arithmetic  and  composition.  The  boys 
strong  in  one  subject  are  proportionately  strong 
in  the  other,  and  the  weak  boys  in  one  subject  are 
proportionately  weak   in   the  other.     Perfect  pos- 


4  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

itive  correlation  is  expressed  by  unity  or,  more 
exactly,  by  +1.  Let  us  see  how  this  value  would 
be  obtained  by  means  of  the  calculations  required 
for  the  given  formula. 

First  find  the  average  mark  in  the  first  series  of 
marks,  namely,  those  for  Arithmetic.  This  is  seen 
to  be  4.  Now  find  the  deviation  from  the  average 
of  each  individual  mark  in  the  first  series,  of  A. 
B's  mark,  of  C.  D's  mark,  and  so  on.  These  devi- 
ations are  shown  in  the  second  column  of  figures 
starting  from  the  left,  and  constitute  the  "x's" 
of  the  Pearson  Formula.  The  x's  are  now  squared, 
as  given  in  the  next  column  of  figures  to  the  right. 
These  squares  are  added  up  and  their  average  found, 
which  in  this  case  =4.  Finally,  the  square  root  of 
the  average  of  the  squares  is  found  (=2)  and  this 
figure  is  the  "a-,"  (standard  deviation),  of  the  given 
formula.  Corresponding  operations  with  the  marks 
for  Composition  enable  us  to  find  the  y's  and  "0-2" 
required  by  the  formula — a  glance  at  the  table  will 
show  what  these  are.  The  last  column  of  figures 
to  the  right  shows  the  xy's  required.  These  are 
obtained  by  the  multiplication  of  the  first  series  of 
deviations  (x's)  into  the  second  series  of  devia- 
tions (y's),  and  the  "2  xy"  of  the  formula  is  the 
sum  of  these  x  y's,  which,  in  this  case,  =56.  The 
"n"  of  the  formula  is  the  number  of  cases,  in  this 
instance  —1.  Substituting  the  numerical  values 
found  we  have 

(  (H'lliciciit  of  correlation  or  "r    —  =  — — -^ — ■;  =+1. 

uff.ff,        7  x  2  X4 

Now  let  us  imagine  that  the  marks  were  quite 
otherwise  related  than  as  shown  in  the  above  table. 
Let  us  suppose  that  the  boys  who  were  strongest  in 


AGE   OF    ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  5 

Arithmetic  were  weakest  in  Composition,  and  that 
those  who  were  strongest  in  Composition  were 
weakest  in  Arithmetic  in  such  wise  as  is  represented 
by  the  next  table.  It  is  still  obvious  that  we  have 
perfect  correlation,  but  this  time  of  a  negative  kind. 
After  the  preceding  explanations,  it  will  be  quite 
clear  from  a  mere  inspection  of  the  table  how  the 
coefficient  of  correlation,  namely — 1,  is  arrived  at. 


S  3  «  2 

s  ^5  i  to  s  ^ 

a  W'C  (0  05  «    q  73  03  - 

K  «"-<              x  «  So  V>  V>  * 

A.   B.              7+3  9  2  —6  36  —18 

CD.               6+2  4  4  —4  16  —8 

E.  F.               5+1  1  6  —  2  4  —2 

0.  H.               4               0  0  8  0  0 

1.  J.  3  —1  1  10  +2  4  —2 
K.  L.  2—2  4  12  +4  16  —8 
M.  N.               1—3               9             14+6             36             —18 

Av.=4  Total=28      Av.=8  Total=112  Sum=— 66 

Av.=4  Av.=16 

2xy           — 56 
Coefficient  of  correlation  or  "r"  =  — — =■= - j-    =  —  1. 

Uff.CT,         i   X  2  X  4 

But,  of  course,  the  relationships  between  the 
marks  for  Arithmetic  and  for  Composition  are 
never  in  actuality  like  those  of  either  of  the 
above  tables.  If  they  were  usually  of  such  forms 
as  these,  common  sense  would  be  adequate  to  dis- 
cover the  correlation  without  appeal  to  formulae.  But 
let  me  now  give  a  case,  still  artificially  simplified, 
but  such  as  might  be  more  likely  to  occur  in  actual 
practice. 

I  ask  my  reader  to  look  first  at  the  marks  for 
Arithmetic  and  those  for  Composition  in  the  next 
table  and  guess  the  correlation  between  them.  It  is 


6  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

obviously  positive ;  that  is,  the  good  boys  in  one  sub- 
ject are,  generally  speaking,  good  in  another;  but 
there  are  some  irregularities.  The  correlation  is 
not  perfect,  but  it  seems  rather  nearer  to  perfect 
correlation  than  to  the  absence  of  all  correlation, 
which  would  be  expressed  by  0.  The  table  with  the 
working  out  of  the  formula  shown  below  gives  us  a 
definite  value  for  this  correlation,  namely,  +.75. 


«  jet           .to  .»  «  §              >,  -M  .80 

J<5  «•%•<            k  >»  SO              M  *  >> 

A.  B.               7+3  9  12  +4  16  +12 

C.  D.                6+2  4  10  +2  4  +4 

E.  F.  5+1  1  14           +6  36  +6 

G.   H.  4               0  0  8               0  0  0 

I.  J.  3—1  1  2           —6  36  +6 

K.  L.  2—2  4  4—4  16  +8 

M.  N.               1—3  9  6—2  4  +6 

Av.=4  Total=28      Av.=8  Total=112  Sum=+42 

Av.=4  Av.=16 

^4  =  2  ^16  =  4 

vxy  ^_42 

Coefficient  of  correlation  or  "r"  =  =  -  „~   .,  =+  '75 

11(7^2  <X2X4 

One  word  of  caution — these  tables  are  merely 
illustrative.  The  marks  are  not  actual,  and  more- 
over, the  formula  is  not  generally  suitable  for  ap- 
plication to  series  containing  such  a  small  number 
of  cases  as  seven. 

One  further  word — correlation  coefficients  are  not 
reliable  unless  they  are  two  or  three  times  as  large 
as  the  "probable  error."  In  the  following  research 
the  probable  error  has  been  found  from  the  formula 

•07449  (1— r2) 


where  'n,'  as  in  the  previous  formula,  is  the  number 
of  cases  in  the  series,  and  'r'  is  the  coefficient  of 
correlation. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Few  educational  questions  have  excited  more 
general  interest  in  recent  years  than  that  of  the 
age  at  which  children  should  commence  their 
attendance  at  school.  On  the  one  side  we  have 
had  the  rule-of-three  conclusion,  felt  rather  than 
expressed  as  an  inference,  that  the  more  teaching 
the  child  gets  and  the  sooner  he  begins  school,  the 
more  progress  he  is  sure  to  make.  On  the  other  side 
we  have  had  a  strong  feeling,  now,  I  think,  grow- 
ing in  intensity  and  range,  that  attendance  at  school 
in  England  begins  too  early  and  that  there  is  an 
educational  disadvantage  in  commencing  so  soon. 
I  am  not  aware  that  any  inquiry  has  been  under- 
taken, the  facts  and  conclusions  of  which  would  be 
logically  acceptable  to  both  parties  in  the  dispute. 
An  English  educationist  turns  naturally  to  Ger- 
many and  America  to  see  if  any  scientific  inquiry 
has  been  made  on  this  question  in  either  of  those 
countries.  So  far  as  I  know,  no  such  research  has 
been  made.  There  are,  however,  causes  for  this 
in  addition  to  those  operative  in  England.  In  the 
first  place,  school  atendance  is  compulsory  in  Ger- 
many at  six  years  of  age,  not,  as  with  us,  at  five; 
and  there  are  no  municipal  infant  schools  or  kin- 


8  WHEN    SHOULD   A    CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

dergartens.  In  the  United  States,  even  in  those 
most  progressive  educationally,  six  years  is  the 
usual  compulsory  school  age.  In  some  of  the  New 
England  States,  five  is  the  lower  limit;  but  both 
this  'five'  and  the  previous  'six'  represent  regula- 
tions rather  than  facts;  the  average  Grade  I  (about 
half  a  year's  work  below  our  Standard  I.)  in  Amer- 
ica being  decidedly  old.  It  is  true  that  some  of  the 
States  have  kindergartens  which  are  not  compul- 
sory, but  attendance  therein  is  not  usual  before  five 
years  of  age.  An  admirable  opportunity  exists  for 
measuring  the  advantages  of  kindergarten  training 
in  the  States  just  now,  since,  at  present,  the  Grade  I 
children  in  many  schools  are  about  equally  divided 
between  those  who  have  and  those  who  have  not  re- 
ceived it.  The  application  of  proper  psychological 
exercises  would  help  to  solve  this  important  ques- 
tion, but  the  work  has  not  yet  been  done. 

In  England,  attendance  is  optional  at  three  years 
of  age,  and  does  not  become  compulsory  till  five. 
A  considerable  number  of  children  do  not  begin  to 
attend  until  some  months  after  five,  but,  after  that 
age,  the  numbers  entering  are  so  small  in  most  cases 
that  they  are  hardly  worth  tabulating,  But  between 
three  and  five  we  have  children  entering  at  all  ages, 
and  it  seemed  to  me  that  this  elasticity  gave  an  ex- 
cellent opportunity  for  valuable  research.  Do  those 
who  enter  early  make  more  progress  than  those 
who  enter  late? 


II. 

AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SUBSEQUENT  PROGRESS 
IN  SENIOR  SCHOOLS. 

In  Age  of  Entry  we  have  an  independent  variable 
of  great  accuracy  and  of  easy  ascertainment.  But. 
how  shall  we  measure  school  progress?  Schools 
are  divided  into  classes  and  standards,  and,  pro- 
vided that  we  do  not  lump  together  the  results  from 
different  schools,  we  shall  find  the  school  standards 
a  most  valuable  aid  in  our  inquiry.  This  statement 
needs  some  explanation.  Schools  differ  so  much 
in  neighbourhood  and  in  the  standard  of  work  de- 
manded by  their  Head  Teachers  that  it  would  not 
be  wise  straightway  to  assume  that  Standard  I.  or  II. 
or  any  other  standard  in  one  school,  indicated  the 
same  mental  proficiency  or  attainments  as  in  an- 
other school.  But  in  any  one  school,  particularly 
where  great  care  is  exercised  in  the  classification  of 
the  children,  it  would  be  correct  to  suppose  that  the 
vast  bulk  of,  say,  Standard  IV.  children  are  more 
developed  mentally  than  those  of  Standard  III., 
Standard  III.  than  Standard  II.,  and  so  on.  But 
what  is  meant  by  great  care!  On  the  one  hand,  that 
clever  children  are  promoted  though  they  may  be 
young,  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  very  dull  chil- 
dren are  not  put  into  classes  where  the  work  is  be- 
yond  their  power  even  if  they  make   due   effort. 


10  WIIKX    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

There  is  a  tendency  in  some  cases  to  put  a  child 
up  because,  though  not  fit,  he  has  already  been 
'through,'  as  it  is  called,  a  previous  class  or  stand- 
ard. The  expert  in  school  organization  will  see  at 
once  that  that  tendency  works  against  the  conclu- 
sion which  I  believe  my  figures  will  establish. 

This  short  discussion  will  have  already  shown  that 
progress  cannot  be  considered  apart  from  age;  a 
boy  of  10  in  Standard  VI.  has  obviously  made  more 
school  progress  than  one  of  14  in  Standard  VII. 
Somehow  we  must  allow  for  both  age  and  standard. 
There  are  numerous  and  complicated  and  somewhat 
elastic  rules  governing  the  question  of  classification 
by  age  and  standard,  and  promotion  from  infants' 
departments  to  boys'  and  girls'  departments.  This 
is  not  the  place  for  a  detailed  discussion  of  these 
rules.  Their  upshot  is  that  a  sort  of  ideal  age  for 
each  standard  emerges  on  which  teachers  and  in- 
spectors roughly  base  their  judgments.  Children  are 
supposed  to  commence  their  Standard  I.  work  at  an 
average  age  of  6  years  b'  months,  their  Standard  II. 
work  at  7  years  6  months,  their  Standard  III.  work 
at  8  years  6  months,  and  so  on;  thus  they  should 
commence  the  work  of  Standard  VII.  at  12  years 
6  months.  This  is  probably  somewhat  too  high  a 
standard  for  schools  in  poor  or  inferior  neighbour- 
hoods. Only  one  of  the  schools  (all  good  ones)  in 
which  my  investigations  were  made — a  school  long 
established  in  a  good  neighbourhood  with  a  first- 
rate  staff — attained  it.  But  it  was  useful  as  a  sort 
of  guide  which  teachers  well  understood.  Now,  of 
course,  some  children  reached  these  standards  at 
earlier  ages  than  those  given  above,  and  some  later. 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  11 

Very  few  were  more  than  two  years  behind;  so  I 
took  the  pupil  who  was  two  years  behind  as  being 
accredited  with  o  progress  marks,  and  those  who 
were  more  than  two  years  behind  received  a  nega- 
tive mark.  The  ages  of  the  children  were  calculated 
in  months,  so  that  a  boy  two  years  and  one  month 
behind  would  receive  a  negative  mark  of  one.  If  he 
were  1  year  and  11  months  behind  he  would  of  course 
receive  a  positive  mark  of  one;  if  he  were  just  right 
his  mark  would  be  24;  and  if  he  were  one  year 
ahead  of  the  normative  age — a  by  no  means  unusual 
thing — he  would  receive  a  positive  mark  of  36. 
Take  one  case  in  illustration.  Alfred  Brown  enters 
Standard  IV.  when  he  is  9  years  9  months  old;  the 
normative  age  is  9  years  6  months;  Brown's  prog- 
ress mark  is  24  —  3,  that  is  21. 

We  can  obviously,  with  no  difficulty  except  the 
laborious  nature  of  the  undertaking,  assign  a  prog- 
ress mark  to  every  child  in  any  school  at  any  time. 
We  have  merely  to  take  the  age  in  years  and  months 
when  he  entered  his  present  standard,  and  add  to, 
or  subtract  from  24,  the  months  by  which  he  is  in 
advance  of,  or  behind,  the  normative  age.  It  would 
be  better  to  have  a  normative  which  was  a  little 
more  normal,  but  obviously  that  will  not  affect  our 
figures,  which  are  used  only  for  purposes  of  com- 
parison within  the  same  school.  They  are  not  valid 
for  comparison  between  one  school  and  another, 
since,  as  I  have  said  above,  the  standards  in  one 
school  differ  from  those  in  another.  We  have  in 
England  no  Lehrplane  as  in  Germany,  nor  official 
courses  of  study  as  in  America;  the  standards  in 
different   schools  would  not  be  really  'standards' 


12  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

in  the  scientific  sense,  if  we  had;  though  there  might 
be  more  uniformity  between  schools  of  the  same 
type ;  for  our  Lehrplane,  if  we  ever  have  them  again, 
will,  I  hope,  unlike  those  of  America,  discriminate 
between  schools  of  different  types. 

So  far  there  is  little  difficulty;  but  when  we  set 
out  to  get  the  figures  which  we  wish  to  compare 
with  these  progress  marks,  those,  namely,  relating 
to  age  of  entry,  we  find  that,  in  whatever  school  we 
choose,  we  have  a  number  of  children  who  did  not 
commence  their  school  life  in  that  school,  but  some- 
where else.  If  in  private  schools,  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult, if  not  impossible,  to  get  reliable  statistics;  and 
if  in  other  municipal  schools,  much  correspondence 
would  have  been  involved;  and,  even  if  this  diffi- 
culty had  been  surmounted,  there  would,  probably, 
in  many  cases,  have  been  awkward  breaks  in  the 
school  lives  of  such  children  that  would  have  ren- 
dered their  cases  abnormal.  One  Head  Master 
wrote  to  me  thus — "The  difficulty  of  obtaining  re- 
liable facts  relating  to  children  who  have  previously 
attended  private  or  other  elementary  schools  makes 
it  necessary  to  ignore  those  who  did  not  begin  in- 
struction in  these  buildings.  The  statistics  concern- 
ing the  latter  are  absolutely  reliable."  We,  there- 
fore, excluded  every  child  who  had  at  any  time  at- 
tended any  other  school. 

In  the  first  school  for  which  the  results  of  this 
inquiry  are  given,  we  tabulated  the  name  of  every 
child  who  was  on  the  roll  for  August  1st,  1905 — 
the  first  day  of  the  educational  year  1905  to  1906 — 
with  two  exceptions,  (1)  of  children  who  had  at 
any  time  attended  any  other  school,  (2)  of  one  boy 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      13 

who  was  subsequently  sent  to  a  school  for  mentally 
defective  children.     The  list  appeared  thus: 

Standard  Age  on  Progress- 

Namfi.  Age  of  Entry,    on  1,  8,  '05.  1,  8,  '05.  mark. 

Holloway,  William,  3  yrs.  1  mtli.  I.  8  yrs.    0  mths.  6 

Mitchell',  Richard,  3  yrs.  3  mths.  T.  7  yrs.  10  mths.  8 

Friend,  Victor,  3  yrs.  7  mths.  I.  8  yrs.    1  mth.  5 

Shillings,  Albert,  3  yrs.  5  mths.  II.  7  yrs.    6  mths.  24 


Moog,  Philip,  5  yrs.  4  mths.  V.  10  yrs.  10  mths.      20 


If  now  we  collect  the  progress  marks  of  all  chil- 
dren who  entered  between  3  and  3y2  years  of  age, 
and  of  all  those  who  entered  between  3y2  and  4,  and 
so  on,  we  ought  to  see  at  a  glance  whether  there 
is  any  marked  correlation  between  the  age  of  en- 
try and  subsequent  progress  in  school;  provided, 
of  course,  that  the  influence  of  age  of  entry  is  not 
obscured  by  that  of  any  other  relevant  factor  than 
the  increased  length  of  school  life  at  any  given  sub- 
sequent age.  Whether  there  is  another  factor  de- 
pressing or  raising  the  position  of  those  who  en- 
tered early  as  compared  with  those  who  entered 
late  is  a  question  I  will  discuss  subsequently.  For 
the  present,  I  shall  suppose  that  the  groups  enter- 
ing at  different  ages  between  3  and  5  are  of  approx- 
imately equal  natural  ability  within  the  same  school. 
The  last  limitation  is  important,  for  I  am  well  aware 
that,  in  London,  the  age  of  entry  in  some  suburban 
schools  is  very  late,  and  it  would  be  unfair  to  com- 
pare these  children  with  the  early  groups  of  poor 
neighbourhoods.  This  school  for  which  the  figures 
are  now  to  be  given,  was  rather  a  new  one;  conse- 
quently, we  were  compelled  to  cross  out  a  very  large 
number  of  children  who  had  been  to  other  schools; 


14  WHEN    SHOULD   A    CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

but  I  selected  it  because  the  Head  Master,  I  knew, 
took  very  great  care  in  classification  and  neither 
under  nor  over  promoted.  The  progress  marks  are 
indeed  very  satisfactory  for  a  new  school  contain- 
ing this  type  of  child.  I  ought  perhaps  to  mention 
that  the  classification  was  not  made  in  view  of  this 
inquiry,  which  was  not  begun  until  November,  four 
months  after  the  school  had  been  organized  for  the 
educational  year. 
The  results  follow: 


TABLE 

I. 

School  "0. 

K. 

5 ; 

Boys. 

A' 

.'prngo  progress 

Age  of  entry. 

No 

,  of  boys. 

] 

uark  per  boy. 

M.  V.* 

3—3% 

23 

14.2 

6.2 

3%— 4 

15 

15.3 

5.9 

4—41/2 

17 

14.1 

5.8 

4%-h5 

18 

15.0 

6.3 

5—51/2 

23 

16.3 

5.7 

Boys  who  entered  after  5Vi>  years,  very  few  in 
number,  were  excluded ;  they  were  boys  who  were 
feeble  or  in  ill-health:  the  large  number  entering 
after  5  is  due,  not  to  the  character  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood but,  partly  at  least,  to  the  comparative 
lack  of  school  accommodation  before  this  school 
was  opened. 

My  reader  will  see  how  very  close  these  groups 
are  in  average  progress  if  he  remembers  that  each 
unit  stands  for  a  month  only.  Thus  the  23  boys  who 
began  school  from  3  to  3y2  years  of  age  are  9.8 
months  on  the  average  behind  the  ideal  standard 

*  M.  V.  (Mean  Variation)  is  the  average  deviation  of  the  indi- 
vidual progress  marks  from  the  average  of  the  group.  The  highest 
mean  variation  differs  from  the  lowest  only  'by  .6  of  a  month. 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  13 

for  their  ages ;  the  next  group  is  8.7  months  behind, 
and  so  on.  But  our  interest  just  now  is  in  the  com- 
parative results ;  and  it  is  very  hard  to  believe  that, 
in  this  school,  the  age  of  entry  has  been  an  operative 
factor  at  all  so  far  as  the  child's  subsequent  prog- 
ress is  concerned. 

This  method  of  grouped  averages,  though  excel- 
lent for  obtaining  a  general  notion  of  correlation, 
is  not  adequate  to  show  small  amounts  of  correlation. 
This  has,  however,  been  worked  out  from  the  indi- 
vidual cases  by  the  Pearson  formula,  and  gives  a 
coefficient  of +.07  with  a  probable  error  of  .07.  One 
cannot  draw  an  inference  either  way  from  this  re- 
sult, except  that  no  correlation  exists ;  one  may,  how- 
ever, remember  that,  as  we  are  correlating  age  of 
entry  and  progress  marks,  a  positive  coefficient  is 
against  early  entry. 

I  have  given  the  results  of  the  above  boys'  school 
first,  because  the  numbers  were  small  and  easy  to 
manipulate;  it  was  not,  however,  the  one  in  which 
my  first  investigation  was  made.  That  was  also  a 
boys'  school,  one  situated  in  a  good  neighbourhood, 
long  established  and  popular,  though  not  very  large. 

The  inquiry  was  commenced  in  June,  1905.  All 
the  boys  in  the  school  were  placed  on  our  list,  except 
those  who  had  previously  attended  any  other 
school,  public  or  private.  Every  boy  included,  there- 
fore, had  attended  the  corresponding  infants'  depart- 
ment, the  very  few  who  had  commenced  their  school 
attendance  at  a  very  late  age  in  the  boys'  depart- 
ment itself  being;  excluded. 


16  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

As  before,  certain  particulars  were  supplied  for 
each  pupil,  and  were  set  out  as  follows : 

Name.  Age  of  admission       Present  Age  on 

to  Infants'  dept.       standard.  30,  ti,  '06. 

Beamish,  Lawrence,  15  yrs.  2  mths.  II.  S  yrs.  8  mtli9. 

Piper,  Harold,  3  yrs.  3  mths.  II.  8 yrs.  1  mth. 


Ward,   Charles,  5  yrs.  5  mths.  VII.  14  yrs.  3  mths. 

Total,  195  boys. 

Each  boy  then  received  a  progress  mark  calcu- 
lated in  the  way  previously  explained.  The  pupils 
had  worked  for  11  months  in  their  present  standards, 
and  this,  of  course,  had  to  be  allowed  for.  Thus  11 
months  were  deducted  from  the  present  age  of  each 
pupil  if,  as  was  almost  invariably  the  case,  he  had 
been  placed  in  his  present  standard  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  current  educational  year. 

I  propose  to  present  first  the  final  summary  of  the 
results.. 

TABLE    II. 

School  "L."    Boys. 


Age  of  entry. 

No. 

of  chJ 

Idren. 

Average  progress 
mark  per  boy. 

M.  V 

3—3l/2 

38 

23.4 

5.3 

3%— 4 

40 

21.9 

7.8 

4— 4*/> 

47 

23.0 

8.6 

4i/2—5 

28 

22.5 

4.3 

5—51/2 

39 

22.1 

7.6 

It  will  help  us  clearly  to  comprehend  the  great 
similarity  between  the  progress  of  these  five  groups 
if  we  remember  that  this  table  means  that  the  first 
group  (those  that  enter  from  3  to  3V*>  years  of  age) 
are,  on  the  average,  .6  months  below  the  normative 
standard  for  their  age :  the  second  group,  on  the  av- 
erage, 2.1  months  below:  the  third  group,  1  month 
below:  the  fourth,  1.5  months  below:  and  the  fifth, 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  17 

1.9  months  below.  The  differences  in  the  progress 
of  the  various  groups  are  extremely  small.  It  is  not, 
however,  unreasonable  to  suggest  that  the  earlier 
entering  groups  may  show  more  advance  in  the 
lower  standards  than  those  entering  later,  and  that 
this  difference  gradually  disappears ;  or  perhaps,  as 
would  be  necessary  if  the  average  progress  mark 
for  the  various  groups  of  all  standards  together 
remains  approximately  the  same,  that  a  reverse  dif- 
ference appears  in  the  upper  standards.  The  fol- 
lowing classification  will  help  us  to  test  this  supposi- 
tion. 


TABLE 

III. 

School  "L." 

Boys. 

Average  progress 
mark  to 

As?  of  entry. 

No.  of  boys. 

Standard. 

nearest  unit. 

3—31/2  • 

7 

II. 

26 

3%— 4 

3 

II. 

21 

4—4  % 

8 

II. 

19 

4%— 5 

5 

II. 

22 

5—5% 

6 

II. 

22 

3—3y, 

7 

III. 

27 

31/2-4 

7 

III. 

24 

4— 4% 

8 

III. 

25 

4%— 5 

6 

III. 

21 

5—5% 

7 

III. 

25 

3— 3y2 

8 

IV. 

22 

3y2— 4 

6 

IV. 

24 

4— 4% 

7 

IV. 

23 

4y2— 5 

5 

IV. 

23 

5— sy» 

8 

IV. 

20 

3— 3y. 

4 

V. 

23 

3y,— 4 

12 

V. 

20 

4—41/ 

11) 

V. 

27 

4%—  5 

5 

V. 

27 

5— 5y2 

3 

V. 

32 

3—31/2 

7 

VI. 

25 

3y2— 4 

6 

VI. 

18 

4—4% 

6 

VI. 

17 

4y2— 5 

3 

VI. 

22 

5—5% 

5 

VI. 

14 

3— 3% 

5 

VII. 

15 

3y2— 1 

7 

VII. 

26 

4 — 4% 

4 

VII. 

25 

4y2— 5 

8 

VII. 

18 

5-5  % 

7 

VII. 

24 

18  WHEN    SHOULD    A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

A  comparison  of  the  progress  marks  of  the  early 
entering  groups  with  those  of  the  later  entering 
groups  in  each  standard  separately  (the  school  con- 
tained no  Standard  I.  children)  will  show  that  this 
supposition  is  untenable.  Teachers  will  note  the 
low  progress  marks  of  Standard  VI.,  but  will  at 
once  understand  when  I  tell  them  that  there  were 
two  divisions  of  Standard  VII. 

But  a  still  further  issue  may  be  legitimately 
raised.  It  may  be  fairly  urged  that  the  early  groups, 
though  not  in  a  higher  standard  for  their  age  than 
the  groups  who  entered  late,  are  yet  decidedly  su- 
perior within  those  standards.  To  test  this  ques- 
tion would,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  have 
been  a  task  of  extreme  difficulty;  but  the  Head  Mas- 
ter of  this  school  was  one  who  kept  the  records  of 
his  terminal  examinations  with  exceptional  care  and 
conducted  his  tests  with  exceptional  thoroughness. 
He  had,  moreover,  in  each  standard,  given  25  marks 
for  each  subject,  so  that  there  was  plenty  of  room 
for  variation ;  and,  further,  it  was  easily  possible  to 
find  for  every  boy  an  average  mark  per  subject.  It 
would  be  quite  impossible  without  enormously  swell- 
ing the  contents  of  this  monograph,  to  give  all  the 
exercises  set.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  they  ranged  from 
Reading,  "Writing,  Spelling,  Arithmetic  and  Drawing 
in  Standard  II.  to  Reading,  Spelling,  Composition, 
Arithmetic  (Rule Sums  and  Problems)  Mental  Arith- 
metic, Arithmetical  Computation,  Algebra,  and 
Drawing  in  Standard  VII.  The  examination  had 
been  conducted  some  months  before  and  was  not 
undertaken  for  the  purpose,  or  with  the  knowledge, 
of  this  approaching  inquiry. 

I  append  the  final  summary  of  the  marks  gained : 


Average  mark  per 

No. 

of  children. 

boy 

per  subject. 

38 

21.5 

40 

21.5 

47 

20.5 

28 

21.9 

39 

21.2 

AGE    OF    ENTRY   AND    SCHOOL    PROGRESS.  19 

TABLE   IV. 
School  "L."     Boys. 

Age  of  entry. 

3—31/2 
3V-,—  4 
4—4% 
41/2— 5 
5—51/2 

It  is,  I  think,  fair  to  conclude  from  this  table  that 
the  children  had  not  been  classified  on  an  age  basis, 
but  on  an  ability  basis ;  for  if  old  children,  entering 
school  late,  had  been  put  forward  simply  because 
they  were  old,  we  should  have  discovered  it  by  a 
rapidly  decreasing  examination  mark  for  the  late 
entering  groups.  The  outstanding  result  is  the  ex- 
traordinary closeness  of  the  progress  and  class  pro- 
ficiency of  these  five  groups.  These  results  give  no 
countenance  to  the  view  that  early  entry  into  school 
results,  later  on,  in  greater  proficiency  and  prog- 
ress. I  was  not  prepared  for  such  a  result,  for  I 
certainly  expected  that  the  group  which  entered 
after  5  would  show  an  appreciable  falling  off,  either 
in  their  progress  in  the  standards  or  in  their  com- 
parative proficiency  within  their  standards. 

That  these  tabulated  results  are  not  adventitious 
ones  may  be  shown  in  a  variety  of  ways,  of  which 
the  subjoined  analysis  is  one: 


20  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 


TABLE 

V. 

School  "L." 

Boys. 

Age  of  entry. 

Standard. 

No.  of  boys. 

Average  mart 

per  boy 

per  subject. 

3— 3y2 

II. 
III. 

7 
7 

22.1 

22.0 

IV. 

8 

20.5 

V. 

4 

21.0 

VI. 

7 

21.8 

VII. 

5 

21.3 

3  M>— 4 

II. 

3 

22.3 

III. 

7 

22.0 

IV. 

G 

21.0 

V. 

12 

23.0 

VI. 

6 

21.7 

VII. 

6 

21.0 

4— 4% 

II. 
III. 

8 
8 

17.3 
22.2 

IV. 

7 

20.4 

V. 

10 

20.2 

VI. 

6 

20.8 

VII. 

8 

22.2 

4%— 5 

11. 
III. 

5 
6 

21.6 
22.3 

IV. 

5 

21.1 

V. 

5 

22.6 

VI. 

3 

20.6 

VII. 

4 

22.3 

5—5% 

II. 
III. 

0 

7 

21.1 
21.6 

IV. 

8 

20.8 

V. 

3 

20.8 

VI. 

5 

19.7 

VII. 

10 

22.0 

The  earliest  entering  groups  have  a  slightly 
higher  mark  in  Standard  II.  than  the  later  entering 
groups :  in  III.  the  mark  is  practically  identical  for 
all  ages  of  entry:  in  IV.  it  is  practically  identical 
throughout :  in  V.  the  3y2— 4  and  4i/>— 5  groups  are 
the  best :  in  VI.  the  early  entering  groups  are  better 
than  the  later  ones :  in  VII.  VIII.  the  later  entering 
groups  are  better  than  the  earlier  entering  ones.  Our 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      21 

only  conclusion  can  be  that  early  or  late  entry  is  an 
unimportant  factor  within  each  class. 

We  have  now  a  mark  for  each  child  called  the 
progress  mark,  which  depends  on  the  standard  he 
has  reached  at  his  present  age:  we  have  also  a  ter- 
minal examination  mark,  which  shows  how  he  stands 
within  that  standard.  We  can  see,  by  referring  to 
our  tables,  that  the  group  entering  from  3 — 3y2 
years  have  a  progress  mark  of  23.4  with  an  exam- 
ination mark  of  21.5,  and  so  on. 

It  will  be  of  service  if  I  give  the  two  sets  of  re- 
sults side  by  side. 


TABLE  VI. 

School 

"L."     Boys. 

Ago  of  entry. 

No.  of  boys. 

Average  progress 
mark. 

Average 

examination 

mark. 

3—31/2 

3y»— 4 

4 — 4V> 

4y>— 5 
5—51/2 

38 
40 
47 
28 
39 

23.4 
21.!) 
23.0 
22.5 
22. 1 

21.5 
21.5 
20.5 
21.9 
21.2 

Considering  both  these  values  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  3  to  3y2  group  and  the  41/.  to  5  group  are  the 
most  proficient,  while  the  three  remaining  groups 
are  practically  identical. 

But,  after  all,  these  are  results  for  one  school  only, 
and  one  well  situated  in  a  good  neighbourhood.  We 
have,  however,  to  remember  that  they  correspond, 
so  far  as  the  relative  progress  of  the  different 
groups  within  the  same  school  is  concerned,  with 
those  of  the  former  school  "0.  K.",  which  was  situ- 
ated in  a  neighborhood  very  different  from  that  of 
the  school  just  referred  to. 


22  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

Perhaps  I  may  say  a  word  here  as  to  the  lump- 
ing together  of  results  which  I  deprecated  in  the 
explanation  of  my  method.  If  we  had  put  these  two 
schools  together  let  us  see  what  would  have  hap- 
pened. I  pass  over,  for  a  moment,  the  considera- 
tion that  the  "standards"  of  work  were  not  likely 
to  be  the  same;  they  did,  as  a  fact,  closely  approxi- 
mate. 

TABLE   VII. 


, School 

'•0.   K.-' , 

Average- 
progress 

, Sen 

ool      L.   v 

Average  progress 

Age  of  entry. 

No.  of  boys. 

mark. 

No.  of  boys 

mark. 

3—3i/2 

23 

14.2 

38 

23.4 

31/2—4 

15 

15.3 

40 

21.9 

4—41/2 

17 

14.1 

47 

23.0 

41/2—5 

18 

15.0 

28 

22.5 

5— 5y2 

23 

10.3 

39 

22.1 

Obviously  the  results  from  the  second  school, 
with  its  larger  numbers  and  higher  progress  marks, 
would,  if  we  had  combined  the  results,  have  swamped 
those  from  the  first  school.  Whereas,  by  taking  them 
separately,  we  find  that  quite  a  different  rate  of 
progress  per  age  is,  nevertheless,  accompanied  by 
the  same  steady  resemblance  between  the  groups 
entering  early  and  those  entering  late. 

One  word  to  teachers.  The  school  "0.  K."  was 
just  as  good  a  school  as  School  "L.,"  its  lower 
progress  marks  depended  (1)  on  the  fact  that  it 
was  relatively  new,  (2)  on  the  fact  that  it  was  in  a 
different  neighbourhood  and  was  attended  by  chil- 
dren of  different  birth  and  social  environment.  (On 
this  latter  question  I  hope  to  publish  some  definite 
work  in  the  near  future.) 

I  now  pass  from  these  schools  to  another,  which 
was  nearer  in  social  type  to  School  "L.,"  but  shared 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      23 

with  School  "O.  K."  the  disadvantage  of  being 
somewhat  new.  Teachers  will  understand  without 
argument  that,  in  a  new  school,  if  anywhere,  the 
ages  of  the  children,  in  the  lower  standards  at  least, 
are  apt  to  be  high;  and  progress,  measured  by  age 
and  standard,  is  apt  to  be  low.  But,  as  before,  we 
are  concerned,  not  with  the  general  progress  of  the 
school,  but  with  the  comparative  progress  of  the 
children  entering  early  and  those  entering  late.  As  on 
the  previous  occasion,  every  child  was  excluded  whose 
whole  school  life  was  not  passed  within  the  school 
itself.  The  cordial  co-operation  of  the  three  head 
teachers — the  Infants'  Mistress,  the  Girls'  Mistress, 
and  the  Head  Master  of  the  Boys'  School  working 
together — made  the  investigation  easy  and  rapid. 
The  name  of  every  child  on  the  roll  on  the  31st  of 
July  preceding  the  investigation  (which  took  place 
some  months  later)  was  placed  on  a  list,  together 
with  the  following  particulars  collected  from  the 
school  registers.  It  was  not  known  beforehand  that 
such  an  investigation  would  be  made. 

Present  Age  on  entering 

Name.  standard.  Age  on  31, 7.  '05.  school. 

Buerley,  Alfred,  VI I.  12  yrs.  3  mths.  4  yrs.  7  mths. 

Cox,  Sidney,  VII.  13  yrs.  7  mths.  5  yrs.  1  mth. 


Swift,  Percy,  I.  8  yrs.  4  mths.  4  yrs.  5  mths. 

Three  boys  were  excluded  who  had  been  absent 
through  illness  for  very  long  periods.  The  Head 
Teacher  thought  it  unfair  to  put  these  in,  and  I 
concurred  in  his  judgment.  Then  to  every  boy  was 
allotted  a  progress  mark  in  the  way  already  ex- 
plained. And,  finally,  the  results  were  tabulated  as 
before. 


24  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

TABLE  VIII. 
School  "G."     Boys. 


Average  progress 

;c  of  entry. 

No.  of  children. 

mark. 

M.  V 

3—3% 

12 

20.6 

8.0 

3%— 4 

7 

19.4 

9.3 

4— 4% 

8 

21.6 

7.6 

4%— 5 

16 

19.0 

6.4 

5— 5y2 

12 

15.4 

5.8 

5%— 6 

2 

17.0 

4.0 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  there  is  a  drop  in  the 
last  two  groups,  of  which  the  figures  of  the  first 
four  groups  give  no  indication;  so  I  thought  it  well 
in  this  case,  as  the  numbers  were  small,  to  arrange 
the  children  in  a  list  showing 


Name. 

Age 

of  entry  in 
months. 

Frogress 
marks. 

R.  R. 

36 

29 

C.  H. 

43 

3 

C.  R. 
H.  S. 
P.  R. 

s.  s. 

61 
63 

67 
67 

21 
23 
21 
13 

and  then  to  work  out  the  correlation  from  the  indi- 
vidual results.  The  table  above  is,  of  course,  a  sum- 
mary of  such  a  list,  but  it  deals  with  averages  only. 
If  the  correlation  between  age  of  entry  and  prog- 
ress is  worked  out  by  the  Pearson  formula  from 
the  individual  cases,  we  find  that  it  amounts  to 
— .1727  with  a  "probable  error"  of  .09.  Consid- 
ering the  size  of  the  probable  error  in  its  rela- 
tion to  the  correlation  coefficient,  our  only  safe 
conclusion  is  the  absence  of  correlation.     But  we 


AGE    OF    ENTRY    AND    SCHOOL    PROGRESS.  10 

have  the  further  consideration  which  I  attempted 
to  deal  with  in  School  "L.,"  namely,  is  the  classi- 
fication itself  a  proper  one,  or  is  it  based  on  age 
apart  from  ability?  Here  again,  the  examinations 
of  the  Head  Teachers  were  of  very  great  service. 
Those  of  the  Head  Master  were  indeed  conducted 
with  a  quite  unusual  thoroughness  and  his  ques- 
tions were  very  searching.  In  the  upper  standards 
it  was  possible  to  obtain  individual  marks  for  Read- 
ing, Writing,  Spelling,  Composition,  English  Gram- 
mar, Arithmetic,  Algebra,  Geography  and  History; 
and  in  the  lower  standards  for  Reading,  Writing, 
Spelling,  Composition  and  Arithmetic.  The  maxi- 
mum mark  for  each  subject  was  10,  so  that  it  was 
quite  easy  to  obtain  an  average  terminal  examina- 
tion mark  for  each  subject  for  each  boy.  This  was 
done  and  the  marks  collected  and  summarized. 


TABLE 

IX. 

School  "G.': 

'    Boys. 

;e  of  entry. 

No.  of  pupils. 

Average  examination  mark 
per  subject  per  child. 

3—3% 
3%—  4 

4—4i/2 

4y2— 5 

5— oV2 

12 

7 

8 

16 

12 

7.5 

7.2 
7.9 
7.9 

7.7 

It  is  fairly  obvious  that  the  later  entering  groups 
have  not  been  classified  above  their  powers  because 
of  their  age,  as  there  is  some  tendency  to  do  in  a 
new  school.  On  the  contrary,  the  two  groups  which 
entered  earliest  seem  to  show  a  slight  inferiority 
within  their  standards,  and  the  later  entering  pupils 
might,  in  comparison  with  the  others,  have  been  put 
a  little  higher  without  danger. 


26  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  the  Girls'  Department  of  the 
same  school.  It  will  be  enough  here  if  I  give  the 
summarized  results.  One  child,  whose  attendance 
had  been  interrupted  by  a  very  long  illness,  was 
omitted. 


TABLE 

X. 

School 

"G." 

Girls. 

e  of  entry. 

No. 

of  children. 

Average 

progress 

mark. 

M.  V 

3—31/2 
31/2—4 

4—41/2 
41/2—5 
5—51/2 

7 

4 

15 

10 

25 

19.0 
20.7 
20.8 
20.5 
19.3 

9.4 
2.4 
7.1 
6.3 
5.0 

There  seems  a  slight  falling  off  of  those  who  en- 
ter after  5  years  of  age;  but  even  then  they  are 
rather  more  forward  for  their  age  than  those  who 
enter  at  3  to  3y2  years;  but,  in  any  case,  (our  units 
are  months,  be  it  remembered)  the  differences  are 
exceedingly  slight.  Worked  out  from  individual 
cases  by  the  Pearson  formula,  the  correlation  be- 
tween age  of  entry  and  school  progress  is  found 
to  be — .0116;  and  this  is  well  within  the  limit  of  the 
"probable  error,"  which  amounts  to  .08. 

But  again  we  have  to  ask  ourselves  if  the  chil- 
dren are  properly  classified,  and  fortunately  there 
is  again  at  our  service  an  excellent  set  of  school 
records.  In  the  upper  standards,  individual  marks 
had  been  given  for  Reading,  Writing,  Spelling, 
Composition,  Written  Arithmetic,  Mental  Arithme- 
tic, Elementary  Science,  Needlework,  Geography, 
History,  and  English  Grammar;  and  even  in  the 
lowest  standards,  in  Reading,  Writing,  Spelling  and 
Arithmetic.     The  maximum  mark  for  each  subject 


AGE   OF    ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  27 

was  10,  so  that  it  was  quite  easy  to  get  an  average 
mark  per  subject  for  each  child  as  before.  Sum- 
marizing these  we  obtained  the  following  table: 

TABLE  XI. 
School  "G."    Girls. 

Average  progress     Average  examination 


Age  of  entry. 

No. 

of  children. 

mark. 

mar 

3— 3% 

7 

m.o 

7.9 

3%-4 

4 

20.7 

8.2 

4—4y, 

15 

20.8 

7.0 

4%— 5 

10 

20.5 

7.8 

5—5% 

25 

19.3 

8.2 

One  group  is  decidedly  weaker,  and  it  looks  as 
if  some  slight  over-promotion  had  taken  place,  since 
this  group  is  furthest  forward  for  its  age.  But 
the  striking  thing  is  the  almost  exact  resemblance 
between  the  early  and  late  entering  groups;  and 
the  general  results  are  a  testimonial  to  the  good 
classification  of  the  school  and  an  indication  of  the 
non-importance  of  earliness  or  lateness  of  entry. 

Let  me  now  deal  with  a  Boys'  school  of  different 
type,  long  established,  and  in  a  poor  neighborhood — 
though  not  itself  attended  by  very  poor  children — 
with  a  strong  Head  Master,  but  a  staff  gradually 
weakening  by  promotion  and  transfer.  The  popu- 
lation, like  that  of  School  "L,"  is  a  stable  one,  and 
the  majority  of  the  children  had  passed  their  whole 
school  life  within  the  walls  of  the  one  school.  We 
excluded  all  who  had  entered  later  than  5  years  6 
months,  and  two  children  who  had  entered  before 
3  years  of  age. 

I  do  not  propose  to  recount  the  method  adopted 
to  make  out  the  preliminary  schedules,  nor  how  the 
progress  marks  were  awarded;  my  reader  will,  by 


28  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

now,  be  quite  clear  on  these  points.  Nor  shall  I 
again  relate  how  the  classification  was  checked  by- 
means  of  the  Master's  Terminal  Examinations.  Of 
the  latter  I  thought  so  highly  that,  when  acting  as 
Inspector  to  the  school,  I  modified  my  own  assess- 
ments of  his  staff,  against  my  own  opinion,  in  the 
direction  indicated  by  his  examinations.  The  labour 
and  care  he  bestowed  upon  them  were  very  great. 
Even  in  Standard  I.  each  boy  received  an  individ- 
ual mark  in  Reading,  Writing,  Spelling,  Arith- 
metic, English,  Geography,  Knowledge  of  Objects 
and  Drawing.  In  Standard  II.,  in  addition,  a  mark 
was  given  for  Knowledge  of  Historical  Tales 
and  for  Composition.  In  Standard  V.,  Elementary 
Chemistry  and  Botany  were  added.  The  mark  for 
each  subject  after  Standard  V.  was  50  instead  of 
10;  but,  as  in  preceding  cases,  we  found  an  average 
mark  per  subject  for  each  child  on  the  basis  of  10 
as  a  maximum.  I  was  careful  to  note  that  the  adop- 
tion of  a  higher  maximum  in  the  upper  standards 
had  not  involved  either  a  higher  or  lower  percent- 
age of  possible  marks  than  in  the  standards  with  a 
lower  maximum  mark  per  subject;  so  that  no  sta- 
tistical difficulties  occurred  in  adding  together  the 
average  marks  for  children  from  different  stand- 
ards. 

I  propose  to  give  the  summarized  table  only. 


TABLE  XII. 

Sch 

."    Boys. 

Average  terminal 

No.   of 

Average  progress 

examination    mark 

Age  of  entry. 

boys. 

mark 

per  child. 

per  child  per  subject. 

3— 3y2 

55 

19.8 

6.2 

sy,— 4 

21 

k;.o 

6.1 

4r— 4% 

33 

19.6 

6.6 

41/2—5 

26 

17.0 

6.6 

5— 5V2 

35 

18.0 

6.5 

AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  29 

That  the  children  are  not  over-promoted  on  ac- 
count of  their  age  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  late 
entering  groups  are  higher  up  in  their  standards 
than  those  entering  earlier;  but  then,  of  course, 
they  are  not  quite  so  advanced  for  their  ages.  The 
children  entering  from  'Sy2  to  4  are  decidedly  the 
weakest  group;  they  are  not  so  far  forward  in  the 
school,  nor  do  they  stand  as  well  within  their  classes 
as  the  other  groups.  The  Head  Master  and  myself 
went  carefully  through  the  group,  but  could  find  no 
reason  except  comparative  inferiority  in  natural 
endowments.  This  group  of  children  contained  a 
rather  larger  number  of  those  who  came  from 
'poor'  homes  than  those  of  the  other  groups,  and 
the  bearing  of  this  factor  on  the  results  I  hope  to 
consider  presently.  I  need  hardly  say  that  by 
'poor'  home  I  mean  something  not  necessarily  con- 
nected with  a  small  family  income. 

At  the  same  time  as  this  investigation  was  made 
in  the  Boys'  Department  of  School  "S,"  a  similar 
inquiry  was  proceeding  in  the  Girls'  Department. 
The  Head  Mistress  was  new  and  the  previous  Mis- 
tress had  spent  about  three  or  four  years  only  in 
the  School.  The  latter  had,  however,  very  greatly 
improved  an  organization  which,  a  few  years  be- 
fore, had  brought  a  reproof  from  His  Majesty's  In- 
spector on  account  of  the  high  ages  of  many  chil- 
dren in  the  lower  classes.  I  do  not,  therefore,  feel 
so  much  confidence  in  the  results  as  in  the  other 
cases  I  have  given,  for,  as  teachers  and  organizers 
well  know,  it  takes  several  years  to  set  right  an 
unsatisfactory  organization;  even  the  process  of 
setting  it  right  often  means  setting  it  wrong  in  an- 


30  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

other  way;  for  to  make  the  average  ages  appear 
satisfactory  for  the  different  standards,  it  is  the 
very  bright  and  willing  child  who  is  often  put  un- 
duly forward,  whilst  the  older  and  heavier-witted 
child  may  be  left  behind.  However,  as  I  intend  to 
give  the  results  for  every  school  in  which  the  in- 
quiry was  made,  I  present  below  those  of  Girls' 
School  S. 

TABLE  XIII. 

School  "S."     Girls. 


A 

i-era«( 

!  terminal 

No.  of 

Average  progress 

examination  mark 

;e  of  entry. 

children. 

mark 

per  child. 

per 

child 

per  subject. 

3—31/2 

CI 

19.4 

7.0 

3i/o—4 

40 

17.9 

7.5 

4—41/2 

45 

20.8 

7.4 

41/.—5 

31 

10.3 

7.3 

5—5% 

41 

13.7 

7.2 

There  is  certainly  an  indication  afforded  by  these 
averages  that  an  entrance  age  later  than  4^  or  5 
years  has  been  followed  by  some  retardation  in 
subsequent  progress;  the  great  similarity  between 
the  examination  marks  of  the  groups  entering  at 
different  ages  shows  the  present  classification  to  be 
a  good  one. 

The  next  results  which  I  present  to  the  reader 
are  those  from  a  school  of  a  rather  different  type 
from  any  of  those  heretofore  given.  This  is  a  large 
and  well-established  girls'  school,  pleasantly  situ- 
ated in  a  good  neighbourhood.  It  contains  a  very 
small  number  of  children  from  'poor'  homes.  It 
is  very  efficient  educationally,  is  called  a  Higher 
Grade  School,  and  deserves  the  name.  A  very  con- 
siderable number  of  children  come  after  5  years  of 
age,   and   a   fair  number   do   not   commence   their 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  31 

school  attendance  till  after  they  have  reached  6 
years  of  age.  The  infants'  department  had  been 
known  for  years  as  one  in  which  "Kindergarten" 
methods  had  been  in  use;  in  the  opinion  of  the 
teachers  in  the  girls'  department,  their  use  had,  in- 
deed, been  unduly  prolonged,  that  is,  continued  after 
the  children  were  fit  for  definite  preparatory  teach- 
ing. I  will  speak  of  the  influence  of  the  form  of 
early  instruction  on  subsequent  school  progress  in 
a  later  section. 

I  propose  to  give  in  the  summary  below  all  chil- 
dren on  the  roll  on  the  1st  of  August,  1905,  exclud- 
ing all  those  who  had  at  any  time  attended  any 
other  school,  public  or  private. 


TABLE 

XIV. 

School 

"R. 

"     Girls 

Average  progress 

Age  of  entry. 

No.  of  girls 

3. 

mark  per  child. 

3—3% 

32 

17.9 

3%— 4 

26 

13.6 

4— ±y2 

30 

13.7 

4y>— s 

63 

19.7 

5—51/0 

64 

16.4 

51/0—0 

13 

11.7 

6— 6 1/2 

9 

15.2 

6%— 7 

4 

21.0 

In  the  first  place  I  would  remind  teachers  who 
think  the  progress  mark  somewhat  low  for  a  school 
of  this  kind  that  there  were  causes  other  (if  that 
was  a  cause)  than  the  unusual  prolongation  of 
"Kindergarten"  teaching  in  the  infants'  depart- 
ment. As  a  Higher  Grade  School,  this  school  had 
been  working  for  years  up  to  a  curriculum  which 
was  very  heavy  in  the  upper  classes,  and  which  any 
child  who  was  much  below  the  average  could  not 


32  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

hope  to  undertake.  The  range  of  work,  if  not  the 
standard  required,  was  necessarily  high.  I  very 
much  regret  that  I  did  not  think  of  getting  the  ter- 
minal examination  marks  until  too  late.  It  is  cer- 
tainly impossible  to  conclude  from  this  table  of  av- 
erages that  there  is  any  advantage  in  commencing 
school  before  5  years  of  age;  indeed,  if  we  put  to- 
gether all  children  coming  in  between  3  and  4  years 
of  age,  and  all  those  coming  in  between  4  and  5, 
we  find  the  average  progress  mark  of  the  former 
to  be  16.0  and  of  the  latter  to  be  17.7.  I  do  not 
consider  my  inquiry  to  be  of  so  much  service  after 
the  entering  age  of  51/.  years  is  reached.  The  par- 
ents of  the  children  attending  these  schools  are  law- 
abiding  persons  and  would  not  keep  their  children 
at  home  much  after  five  years  without  adequate  rea- 
sons, instruction  given  at  home  being  one  of  these. 
Indeed  after  5y2,  there  is  an  element  of  selection 
coming  in  which  I  have  not  allowed  for,  so  I  lay 
no  stress  on  the  result.  It  does  appear,  however, 
that  the  next  two  groups,  namely,  those  entering 
from  5  to  6  years  are  not  much  behind  the  groups 
entering  from  3  to  4;  their  average  progress  mark 
is  15.7.  The  next  group  is,  perhaps,  too  small  and 
the  circumstances  of  the  children  too  special  for  us 
to  feel  much  confidence  in  our  conclusions.  Still 
it  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  the  children  en- 
tering from  6  to  7  years  of  age  have  a  progress 
mark  of  17.0. 

It  is  obvious  that,  if  there  is  any  advantage  in 
early  entry  in  this  school,  it  is  not  apparent  from 
the  average  results.  Let  us,  therefore,  as  usual  in 
cases  of  doubt,  apply  the  formula  of  correlation. 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.       66 

The  result  is  found  to  be  — .01003,  which  is  con- 
clusive as  to  the  unimportance  of  the  age  of  entry 
within  the  limits  dealt  with. 

The  next  results  presented  will  be  those  from  a 
Boys'  School  situated  in  a  poor  neighbourhood,  and 
attended  by  children  of  a  rather  poorer  type,  per- 
haps, than  those  of  School  "0.  K."  It  is  not 
necessary  to  give  again  an  account  of  the  method 
pursued  in  the  investigation.  We  dealt  as  before 
with  every  child  on  the  roll  on  a  given  date,  ex- 
cluding those  who  had  at  any  time  attended  any 
other  school. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  the  school  had  not  been 
organized  in  any  expectation  of  this  inquiry.  Nor, 
in  this  case,  had  there  been  any  expectation  of  it, 
would  there  have  been  any  attempt  whatever  to 
make  any  alteration  in  consequence.  The  Head 
Master's  records  of  progress  had  been  the  subject 
of  encomiastic  comment  from  His  Majesty's  Inspec- 
tor, and  he  was  known  by  the  Inspectors  of  the  Lo- 
cal Authority  as  an  exact  and  careful  judge  of  the 
quality  of  the  work  of  his  school. 

I  give  first  the  general  results  expressed  in  av- 
erages. 

TABLE  XV. 
School  "S.  A."    Boys. 


Age  of  commencement  of 

Average  progress 

school  life. 

No.  of  boys. 

mark. 

3—3yo 

62 

15.7 

3  Mi— 4 

35 

11.7 

4 — \y.> 

35 

16.2 

4y2— 5 

25 

J).S 

5—514 

17 

5.0 

There  is  no  doubt  at  all  that  we  have  now  found 
a  rapid  falling-away  after  the  entrance  age  of  4y2 


34  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

is  passed.     It  seems  a  little  too  sudden,  perhaps, 
to  be  dependent  merely  on  five  or  six  months'  less 
tuition;  still  we  cannot  deny  that  it  is  there.    Some- 
thing of  this  sort,  though  more  gradual,  I  had  ex- 
pected  to    find   before.     As    a  matter   of   fact,   it 
was,  as  my  reader  is  by  this  time  aware,  an  al- 
most unique  result.    The  17  boys  who  had  entered 
from  5 — 5y2  years  had  an  average  progress  mark 
of  5  only,  an  extraordinarily  low  figure.     It  means 
that  these  boys  were,  on  the  average,  19  months  be- 
hind the  position  required  by  normative  progress. 
Need  I  say  that,  if  the  standards  are  to  be  alike 
for  all  schools,  the  normative  is  pitched  too  high 
for  schools  in  such  neighbourhoods  as  this  ?    But  we 
are  now,  of  course,  dealing  with  comparative  groups 
within  the  same  school,  and,  whatever  the  norma- 
tive may  be,  our  table  of  comparisons  is  not  af- 
fected.    These  children  were  emphatically  a  non- 
progressive group,  and   they  came  to   school  late. 
Perhaps  the  organization  of  the  boys'  school  was 
at  fault.     Perhaps  these  children  were  put  in  lower 
classes   than   they   should  have  been.     I  have   al- 
ready spoken  of  the  care  with  which  the  school  ex- 
aminations  were   conducted   and   of   the   excellence 
with  which  the  school  records  were  kept.     All  sub- 
jects of  examination  had  received  10  as  a  maximum 
mark,  so  that  there  was  no  difficulty  in  obtaining 
an  average  mark  per  boy  per  subject,  and  this,  as 
before,    is   called   his   terminal   examination   mark. 
The  summarized  results  will,  I  think,  make  it  clear 
that  these  boys  had  not  been  "under-promoted." 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  35 


T, 

iBLE 

XVI. 

School 

"S.  A 

7  5 

Boys. 

Average  terminal 

;e  of  entry. 

No. 

of  boys. 

examination  mark. 

3—31/2 

62 

6.1 

3yo—4 

34* 

6.8 

4 — 41/. 

35 

6.5 

4V>— 5 

25 

6.3 

0—51/ 

17 

6.3 

The  late-entering  groups  seemed  not  only  to  have 
made  poor  progress  but  were  rather  below  the  av- 
erage in  their  classes.  Our  next  step  was  to  go  in- 
dividually through  the  cases  of  every  boy  in  the 
group  entering  from  5  to  5*4  years  of  age.  Six  of 
the  boys  were  marked  physically  feeble  or  under- 
fed, which  was  rather  a  large  number  out  of  a  total 
of  17.  Still,  even  eliminating  these,  the  mark  was 
very  low.  At  this  juncture,  it  was  thought  it  would 
be  well  to  trace  the  school  career  of  every  child  who 
had  entered  the  Senior  department  from  the  In- 
fants' school  for  a  number  of  years  past,  and  to 
assess  their  progress  as  measured  by  their  age  and 
present  standard  or  the  last  standard  they  reached 
before  they  left.  This  was,  of  course,  a  task  of  ex- 
treme laboriousness  and  occupied  several  weeks. 
Nor  would  it  have  been  possible  at  all  had  not  this 
Head  Teacher  been  in  the  habit,  for  years,  of  en- 
tering in  certain  appropriate  columns  in  his  Admis- 
sion Register,  the  date  at  which  successive  stand- 
ards were  reached  by  his  pupils,  together  with  cer- 
tain particulars  as  to  the  cause  of  leaving.  En  pas- 
sant, may  I  say  that  a  continuation  of  these  records 
in  the  direction  of  ascertaining  what  becomes  of 

*One  boy  shown  in  this  group  in  the  preceding  table  was  absent 
from  the  terminal  examinations  through  illness. 


36  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

school  children  after  they  leave  day  schools  is,  in 
my  judgment,  not  only  of  practical  importance,  but 
full  of  value  for  a  real  science  of  sociology!  How- 
ever, our  present  inquiry  is  fully  provided  for  by 
the  accurate  and  extensive  records  already  kept  in 
this  department.  The  school  progress  of  every  boy 
who  had  entered  from  the  Infants'  department  from 
July,  1898,  to  July,  1905,  inclusive,  excluding  as  be- 
fore, all  children  who  had  ever  attended  any  other 
school,  was  traced  from  beginning  to  end.  We  found 
out,  if  the  child  was  no  longer  present  in  the  school, 
when  and  why  he  left,  how  old  he  was  when  he 
left,  at  what  age  he  entered  the  Boys'  department, 
what  standard  he  had  reached  when  he  left,  and, 
of  course,  at  what  age  he  entered  the  Infants'  de- 
partment. 

Summarising  as  before  we  find : — 


TABLE  XVII. 

School  " 

S.  A." 

Bi 

3VS. 

Age  of  entry. 

No. 

of  boys. 

Average  progress 
mark. 

3—3% 

102 

15.4 

3%— i 

4— 4M.. 
4%— 5 
5—6% 

60 

50 
42 

26 

11.5 

13.0 

10.9 

4.4 

The  evidence  from  the  preceding  table  is  strik- 
ingly corroborated;  there  is  no  doubt  at  all  that, 
after  an  entrance  age  of  4y2,  there  is  a  drop,  and 
a  very  considerable  one,  in  the  progress  of  the  chil- 
dren who  come  later;  the  group  entering  from  5  to 
51/,  years  are  three-fourths  of  a  year  behind,  on  the 
average,  in  the  highest  standard  reached  either  now 
or  when  they  left  the  school.    How  were  we  to  ex- 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  37 

plain  this  striking  difference  between  the  results 
from  this  and  from  other  schools'?  A  closer  analy- 
sis enabled  us  to  settle  the  question.  We  again 
considered  the  5  to  51/,  group  dealt  with  in  the  first 
table  given  for  this  school,  and  found  out  that  all 
the  children  were  so  old  when  they  entered  the 
Boys'  department  that  their  promotion  from  the  In- 
fants' school  was  compulsory  under  the  age  clause; 
and  further — a  much  more  serious  matter — that 
only  4  out  of  the  17  had  ever  been  placed  in 
the  Standard  I.  class  in  the  Infants'  department. 
All  the  rest  had  to  do  the  work  of  Standard  I.  for 
the  first  time  in  the  Boys'  department.  No  child 
had  been  less  than  2  years  4  months  in  the  Infants' 
school — their  average  was  2  years  8  months;  so 
there  had  been  plenty  of  time,  considering  the  age 
at  which  they  entered,  to  have  done  the  work  of 
Standard  I.  Why  had  this  not  been  done?  A 
search  through  the  Infants'  school  records  showed 
that,  for  some  years,  the  top  of  the  school  had  been 
congested,  and  the  Head  Mistress  had  been  told 
that  she  must  keep  the  numbers  down  in  certain 
rooms  at  each  yearly  promotion.  Therefore,  the 
rooms  containing  the  higher  classes  would  be  as 
full  as  she  was  permitted  to  make  them  with  the 
earlier  entering  children  who  came  up  from  the 
lower  classes.  Older  children,  entering  afterwards, 
would,  perforce,  be  put  down  in  lower  classes 
among  much  younger  children,  and  were  put  for- 
ward only  when  these  young  ones  were  put  for- 
ward; they,  therefore,  passed  out  of  the  Infants' 
school  old  and  backward,  and  never  wholly  caught 
up  the  loss  they  had  sustained.     This  is  not  the 


38  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

place  to  discuss  the  question  as  to  the  absolute 
necessity  for  the  above-sketched  organization  of  the 
Infants'  department;  it  was  certainly  one  which 
was  natural  enough  under  the  circumstances  and 
fully  accounts  for  the  unusual  results  obtained 
from  this  Boys'  department.  This,  of  course,  is  a 
school  in  a  poor  neighbourhood  and,  at  first  sight, 
we  might  think  that  fact  has  affected  our  results. 
We  may  note  that  between  20  per  cent,  and  30  per 
cent,  of  the  late  entering  group  came  from  specially 
"poor"  homes  (those  who  enter  late  are  usually 
supposed  to  come  from  good  homes,  by  the  way), 
but  that  issue  must  wait  for  the  present.  I  am  by 
no  means  unmindful  of  its  importance. 

Then,  I  think  we  may  fairly  conclude  that,  so  far 
as  intellectual  results  are  concerned,  and  in  so  far 
as  these  are  measured  by  school  progress,  we  can 
claim  no  advantage  for  early  entry  into  school ;  that 
is,  children  who  enter  at  3  years  of  age  progress 
neither  more  rapidly  nor  more  decisively  than  those 
who  enter  at  5.  I  do  not  consider  that  the  evidence 
is  satisfactory  for  entrance  ages  beyond  5  years, 
as  the  numbers  are  small,  and  the  children  who  be- 
gin so  late  (after  the  compulsory  age)  are  often 
unusual  in  health  or  in  home  circumstances.  I  con- 
clude, however,  with  confidence  that,  as  far  as  sub- 
sequent school  progress  is  concerned,  it  is  of  trifling 
importance,  if  not  absolutely  unimportant,  whether 
a  child  begins  school  at  3  or  at  5  years  of  age. 


III. 

AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  PROGRESS  IN  INFANTS' 
DEPARTMENTS. 

But  it  might,  perhaps,  be  contended  that,  though 
the  difference  in  the  progress  of  different  groups 
disappears  after  the  senior  school  is  reached, 
there  is  yet  a  perceptible  difference  if  we  measure 
progress  in  the  Infants'  department  itself.  The  In- 
fants' department  of  School  "0.  K."  was  well 
known  to  me  as  a  thoroughly  efficient  school,  in 
which  the  Head  Mistress  classified  carefully  on  the 
basis  of  the  children's  natural  capacity,  as  far  as 
possible.  It  is,  of  course,  not  wholly  possible.  If 
the  work  of  the  school  is  arranged  in  proper  se- 
quence and  duly  graded,  attainments  must  also 
count  as  a  factor  in  promotion.  AVe  scheduled  the 
name  of  every  child  who  would  be  seven  years  of 
age  before  the  end  of  the  current  educational  year, 
excluding,  as  before,  all  those  who  had  at  any  time 
attended  any  other  school.  Then  we  considered 
their  class  or  standard  in  relation  to  the  age  at 
which  they  entered  it,  and  gave  each  child  a  prog- 
ress mark  on  the  basis  before  described. 

TABLE  XVIII. 
School  "0.  K."     Infants. 

93 

M.     V. 

3.0 
2.4 
2.3 
3.4 
3.0 


;e  of  entry. 

No.  of 
children. 

Average  progress 
mark  per  child. 

3— 3V> 

14 

19.1 

3V>—  4 
4 — 4% 
4% — 5 

5— 5y2 

12 
6 

13 
4 

19.0 
19.0 
20.2 
20.0 

40  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

From  these  figures,  if  we  are  dealing  with  groups 
of  approximately  equal  ability,  we  can  only  con- 
clude that  there  may  be  a  slight  educational  disad- 
vantage in  early  attendance  at  school. 

But  a  still  further  question  might  be  raised.  It 
may  be  that  the  advantage  of  early  attendance  is 
present,  but  is  too  slight  to  make  a  difference  to  the 
class  or  standard  in  which  the  child  is  placed. 
Closer  inquiry  may  discover  that  the  children  who 
commence  school  early  are  somewhat  superior  to 
others  of  the  same  age,  though  they  may  be  in  the 
same  classes.  I,  myself,  expected  this  to  be  the 
case.  It  is  the  ordinary  opinion  of  Head  Teachers 
in  Infant  schools,  and  I  shared  that  opinion. 

To  test  this  point  all  the  children  who  would  be 
seven  years  of  age  at  the  end  of  the  current  educa- 
tional year  were  given  a  terminal  examination  with 
which  special  care  was  taken.  It  was  conducted 
jointly  by  the  Head  Teachers  of  the  Boys'  and 
Infants'  departments,  who  set  the  exercises  and 
marked  the  work  done.  Teachers  who  read  this 
paper  will,  naturally  and  rightly,  wish  to  know  what 
exercises  were  given,  and  the  standard  of  marking 
that  was  adopted.  I  give  these  in  the  teachers'  own 
words.  I  do  not  claim  that  these  tests  are  always 
the  best  psychologically  that  could  be  used ;  but  they 
certainly  give  an  adequate  estimate  of  progress  as 
it  is  measured  in  good  schools.  The  work  was  done 
in  November,  eight  months  before  the  end  of  the 
current  educational  year,  and  was  what  is  known  as 
the  Christmas  terminal  examination. 

I  need,  perhaps,  hardly  say  that  the  questions 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      41 

were  chosen  so  that  the  very  best  pupils  in  each  sub- 
ject could  get  the  maximum  mark  and  the  worst 
could  just  do  something. 

Reading.  The  children  read  from  Collins'  At- 
tractive Readers.  Eight  marks  were  given  for  cor- 
rect reading  and  two  additional  ones  for  expressive 
reading.  Two  marks  were  taken  off  for  errors  and 
omissions,  and  one  for  words  indistinctly  pro- 
nounced. 

Transcription.  The  children  copied  from  Collins' 
Attractive  Reader,  page  22,  paragraph  1.  A  maxi- 
mum of  10  marks  was  allowed,  one  being  subtracted 
for  each  letter  wrongly  formed. 

Spelling.  The  following  ten  words  were  dictated 
— bird,  said,  eggs,  which,  foot,  arms,  home,  they, 
poor,  meat.  One  mark  was  given  for  each  word 
correctly  spelt. 

English  Composition.  A  large  picture  of  an 
ostrich  was  hung  before  the  children,  and  they  were 
asked  to  write  down  anything  they  saw  in  it  or 
thought  about  it.  Thirty-five  minutes  were  allowed 
for  this.  Every  intelligible  statement  received  a 
mark  up  to  a  maximum  of  10,  irrespective  of  spell- 
ing, punctuation  or  construction. 

Written  Arithmetic.  Four  sets  of  sums  were 
given,  Set  A,  Set  B,  Set  C,  Set  D.  Two  marks  were 
given  for  each  correct  answer  and  two  for  clear- 
ness of  arrangement  generally.  One  set  is  given 
below  as  a  sample: 

Set  A.— 1.  Add  together  5,  13.  42.  20. 

2.  Add  together  10,  8,  33,  24. 

3.  8+18+30+13. 

4.  From  87  take  37. 


42 


WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 


Mental  Arithmetic.  Four  problems  were  asked 
with  one  step  in  each  and  two  problems  were  asked 
with  two  steps  in  each.  Correct  answers  to  the 
former  carried  one  mark  and  to  the  latter  two 
marks. 

Drawing  (for  boys).  A  free-hand  exercise  was 
placed  on  the  blackboard;  it  was  a  diagrammatic 
drawing  of  a  straw  hat  (boater).  An  exercise  in 
ruler  work  was  also  given.  Five  marks  as  a  maxi- 
mum were  given  to  each  exercise. 

Needlework  (for  girls).  A  strip  of  calico,  5 
inches  by  2^2  inches,  was  hemmed  in  two  colors 
showing  a  join.    The  maximum  mark  was  10. 

The  results  were  tabulated  as  follows: 


TABLE  XIX. 
School  "0.  K."    Infants. 

03 

+2  ^         o 


Name. 


re'S 

_o 

_o 

*■?  CO 

*-- 

^s 

E 

a 

•5 
a) 

ti 

a 

a 

0) 

o 

B 

c  g 

P 
BE 

O 

c 

to 

J3 

if  a 
<  o 

£ 

Oi 

O 

■< 

s «- 

0 

<5 

Nunn,  Win, 

7.3 

4 

3 

3 

1 

0 

6 

4 

3.0 

Pavey,   Wm., 

7.6 

10 

8 

and 

9 

so 

on 

9 

10 

6 

7 

8.4 

Then  they  were  collected  into  five  groups  as  be- 
fore, according  to  the  age  at  which  the  children 
commenced  their  school  life. 


AGE    OF    ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  43 

TABLE  XX. 
School  "0.  K."     Infants. 


Average  mark 

per 

No.  < 

if 

subject. 

Average  age 

Age  of  entry 

children. 

Maximum  1( 

). 

M.   V. 

on  31,  7,  '06. 

3—3% 

14 

6.3 

1.6 

7  yrs.  11  mths. 

3  Mr- 4 

12 

6.8 

1.6 

7  yrs.  11  mths. 

4—4y2 

6 

7.2 

1.9 

7  yrs.  11  mths. 

4%— 5 

13 

6.0 

1.6 

7  yrs.    9  mths. 

5—51/2 

4 

7.1 

.8 

7  yrs.  10  mths. 

It  is,  I  think, 

difficult  to  res 

ist  the  conclusion  that 

no  advantage  can  be  claimed  for  early  entry.  We 
see  on  this  method  of  classification  that  the  children 
who  entered  school  later  are  younger  for  the  same 
standard  of  attainment  than  those  who  came  earlier. 

Referring  once  more  to  Table  XX.,  we  see  that 
the  last  group  consists  of  unusually  proficient  chil- 
dren; the  variation  from  the  average  mark  is  only 
.8.  I  am  disinclined  to  draw  any  positive  conclu- 
sion from  their  high  marks  except  that  of  unusual 
mental  ability,  though,  of  course,  we  are  entitled 
to  say  that  their  late  entry  has  not  prevented  them 
from  attaining  the  highest  standard  of  proficiency. 
But  it  may  be  worth  while  to  test  our  assumption 
that,  within  this  group,  namely,  that  of  children 
from  7  to  8  years  of  age  and  upwards,  the  age  of 
the  child  is  an  important  factor  in  the  result  of  the 
work.  I  therefore  propose  to  arrange  the  children 
in  order  of  age  and  correlate  the  age  in  months  with 
the  marks  obtained  for  this  terminal  examination: 

The  list  was  arranged  thus: 

Average  mark  per 
Name.  Age  on  31.  7,  '06.  subject. 

Nunn.  Wm.,  7  vrs.  3  mths.  3.0 

Albrecht,  F.,  7  yrs.  3  mths.  8.1 


Simmons,  R.,  8  yrs.  5  mths.  5.0 

The  classified  results  follow: 


44  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

TABLE  XXI. 
School  "0.  K."    Infants. 

No.  of  Average  mark  per 

Age  on  31,  7,  '06.  children.  subject. 

7  yrs.  .3  mths.  to  7  yrs.  5  mths.  6  4.9 

7  yrs.  5  mths.  to  7  yrs.  7  mths.  6  5.4 

7  yrs.  7  mths.  to  7  yrs.  9  mths.  8  6.3 

7  yrs.  9  mths.  to  7  yrs.  11  mths.  6  7.3 

7  yrs.  1 1  mths.  to  8  yrs.  1   mtli.  8  7.2 
8-yrs.  I  mtli.   to  8  yrs.  2  mths.  7  7.8 

8  yrs.  2  mths.  to  8  yrs.  5  mths.  8  6.9 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  this  school  the  age  of 
the  children  at  the  time  of  the  examination  has  af- 
fected the  result.  The  correlation  between  the  age 
in  months  and  the  average  mark  per  subject,  cal- 
culated, not  from  the  grouped  results,  but  from  the 
individual  cases,  on  the  Pearson  formula,  has  a 
positive  coefficient  of  .326,  with  a  " probable  error" 
of  .09. 

On  the  basis  of  these  marks  we  can  push  our  in* 
quiry  a  step  further.  It  is  not  unusual  to  argue 
that,  though  an  early  education  in  an  infant  school 
does  not  secure  an  earlier  acquisition  of  Reading, 
Writing  and  Numerical  Computation,  yet  such  a 
training  is  really  valuable  and  shows  itself  in  such 
things  as  the  solution  of  arithmetical  problems 
and  English  Composition,  not  only  in  earlier  ac- 
quisition, but  throughout  the  whole  school  career. 
I  was  myself  of  this  opinion ;  and,  at  an  early  stage 
in  my  research,  thought  I  had  demonstrated  it  to 
be  the  case,  so  far  as  Infant  schools  were  concerned. 
But  there  is,  of  course,  a  further  point  on  which 
we  have  to  be  clear.  We  want  to  know  whether 
the  lower  classes  did  any  work  indirectly  or  di- 
rectly preparatory  to  English  Composition  and  the 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      45 

solution  of  arithmetical  problems.  If  they  did  not, 
it  would  perhaps  be  wrong  to  suppose  that  our 
method  of  inquiry  would  give  us  relevant  results. 
It  might,  of  course,  be  argued  that  the  mere  pres- 
ence in  school  under  a  good  teacher  would,  how- 
ever indirectly,  increase  the  "intelligence"  of  the 
child  and  so  affect  his  work  in  these  things.  But 
in  this  school  we  need  not  rely  wholly  on  indi- 
rect influence,  since  composition  in  both  an  oral 
and  a  written  form  had  been  done  in  classes  pre- 
vious to  those  tested,  and  little  problems  in  number 
had  been  given  also.  Moreover,  mental  arithmetic 
with  written  answers  had  been  done  on  several  pre- 
vious occasions,  so  that  the  children  were  well  ac- 
customed to  the  exercise. 

The  tabulation  of  results  gives  no  support  to  the 
view  that  an  early  commencement  means  superior 
work  at  a  given  age,  even  in  these  subjects;  and  it 
is  interesting  to  note  that  the  groups  maintain  much 
the  same  relative  order  as  when  all  the  subjects  of 
school  work  were  included. 

TABLE  XXII. 
School  "0.  K."     Infants. 


Average  mark  for 

composition  and 

;e  of  entry. 

No.  of  children. 

mental   arithmetic. 

M.  V. 

3—3  i :, 

14 

7.5 

2.7 

3V2—4 

12 

7.0 

2.4 

4—4% 

(5 

7.!) 

2.6 

4i/2—5 

13 

7.0 

3.0 

5—5% 

4 

7.8 

1.9 

This  school,  however,  was  somewhat  new.  I  will 
next  present  results  from  one  long  established  and 
containing  an  extremely  poor  type  of  children. 
As  before,  all  children  were  excluded  who  had,  at 


46  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

any  time,  attended  any  other  school.  Every  year 
promotion  takes  place  from  Infants'  departments 
to  Senior  schools,  and  I  thought  it  might  be  profit- 
able to  see  how  far  the  attainments  of  the  promoted 
children  depended  on  the  age  at  which  they  had  en- 
tered the  Infants'  department.  The  promotion 
takes  place  partly  under  an  ability  regulation  and 
partly  under  an  age  clause.  The  work  on  which 
my  conclusions  are  based  was  set  for  me  by  the 
Head  Teachers  of  the  Boys'  and  Girls'  depart- 
ments. The  exercises  and  methods  of  marking  fol- 
low. The  examination  was  used  by  the  teachers 
as  a  basis  for  the  subsequent  classification  of  the 
children. 

Exercises  given  at  the  end  of  September  to  the 
children  promoted  on  31.7.05  from  the  wifcmts'  to 
the  senior  departments  of  school  "N." 

Written  Arithmetic.  The  following  sums  were 
dictated  in  words  and  were  written  down  and 
worked  by  the  children: 

(i) 


701 

(2) 

586 

20 

48 

(3) 

(4) 

106 

103 

003 

586 

387 

275 

716 

219 

Three  marks  were  given  for  correct  answers  to 
each  of  sums  (1)  and  (3),  and  two  marks  for  each 
of  sums  (2)  and  (4). 

Mental  Arithmetic.  The  following  problems  were 
given  out  orally,  one  by  one,  and  the  boys  and  girls 
wrote  down  the  answers  and  the  answers  only  . 

1.  A  boy  had  12  apples,  he  gave  3  to  one  boy  and 
1  to  another;  how  many  had  he  left?     (Two  marks). 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  47 

2.  Take  7  from  10  and  then  add  5.     (Two  marks). 

3.  A  little  girl  had  6d;  she  spent  a  penny  and 
then  two  pence  more;  how  much  had  she  left?  (Two 
marks). 

4.  How  many  oranges  can  I  buy  for  3d.,  if  they 
are  being  sold  for  4  a  penny?     (One  mark). 

5.  Divide  12  marks  among  3  boys,  giving  each  the 
same  number;  how  many  do  they  each  get?  (One 
mark). 

6.  If  I  had  2d.  at  first,  and  then  got  lVod.  more, 
and  after  that  y2d.  more,  how  much  had  I  got  alto- 
gether?    (One  mark). 

7.  A  little  girl  went  to  a  shop  with  a  shilling.  She 
spent  3d.,  how  much  had  she  left?      (One  mark). 

Spelling.  The  following  ten  words  were  selected 
from  a  reading  book  previously  unseen,  and  dictated 
slowly,  one  by  one : — children,  called,  morning,  start- 
ing, bread,  butter,  hungry,  became,  bright,  moment. 
Each  word  correctly  spelt  carried  one  mark. 

Writing.  The  children  wrote  with  pen  and  ink 
on  paper  the  following  sentence,  copied  from  the 
printed  matter  in  their  reading  books. — He  came 
)  mining  with  something  in  his  mouth.  Each  serious 
error  in  writing  implied  the  loss  of  one  of  the  ten 
marks  allotted  to  this  exercise. 

'English  Composition.  A  large  and  interesting  col- 
oured picture  was  placed  before  the  children,  and 
they  were  told  to  write  down  anything  that  they 
saw.  A  mark  was  given  for  each  intelligible  state- 
ment; no  marks  being  deducted  for  errors  of  any 
kind. 

Drawing  (for  boys).    The  boys  were  required  to 


48  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

draw  with  their  rulers  from  a  large  copy  of  an  ob- 
long flag  with  crossed  diagonals.  Marks  were  given 
for  accuracy  of  proportion,  angles  and  junctions 
of  lines,  up  to  a  maximum  of  10. 

Needlework  (for  girls).  The  description  of  the  ex- 
ercise was  mislaid,  and  could  not  subsequently  be 
found:  the  worked  specimens  were  not  preserved. 

Reading.  The  children  read  from  a  Standard  I. 
reading  book  which  they  had  not  previously  seen. 
I  am  not  in  possession  of  the  system  adopted  in 
marking,  if  there  was  one;  but  I  feel  perfect  confi- 
dence in  it,  since  both  the  Head  Teachers  who  were 
conducting  these  exercises  for  me  were  excellent 
teachers    with    long    experience    in    examinations. 

TABLE  XXIII. 

School  "N."    Promoted  Infants,  Boys  and  Girls. 

No.  of  Average  mark  AveraKe  age  on  the 

Age  of  entrv.      chil-  per  child  M.    V.  ((av  0f  promotion. 

dren.  per  subject. 

3 31/,            8  6.4  1.7  7  yrs.  5  mtlis. 

31/, 4          15  5.1  1.6  7  yrs.  1  mth. 

4  "ly,          27  6.1  1.9  7  yrs.  7  mtlis. 

41^ 5          i<)  6.4  2.1  7  yrs.  9  mtlis. 

5_5i/2          10  5.7  2.0  7  yrs.  9  mths. 

The  lower  result  in  the  second  group,  may  very 
fairly,  I  think,  be  attributed  to  the  lesser  age  of 
the  children;  and  one  would  be  disposed  to  assert 
a  slight  advantage  on  the  whole  to  children  enter- 
ing school  early  when  the  ages  of  the  various  groups 
are  taken  into  consideration.  But  the  method  of 
selection  is  unsound,  as  some  of  my  readers  who 
understand  school  organization  may  already  have 
surmised.     It  is  not  unusual  to  send  up  older  chil- 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  49 

dren  who  have  entered  the  infants'  school  late, 
whilst  younger  children,  sometimes  their  superiors 
in  ability,  are  not  promoted;  this  is  due  of  course 
to  the  operation  of  the  'age  clause'.  We  are  deal- 
ing with  groups  artificially  selected  and  not,  as  we 
did  in  the  previous  infants'  department,  with  every 
child  of  a  certain  age.  If  the  causes  I  have  given 
for  the  apparent  discrepancy  are  operating —  and 
no  educational  administrator  of  any  competence 
would  deny  that  they  do  operate,  it  is  no  part  of  my 
task  to  specify  individual  cases — their  effects  would 
be  two,  (1)  to  lower  the  proficiency  mark  of  the 
groups  entering  late,  (2)  to  raise  the  average  age  of 
these  groups.  But  why  should  not  young  pupils  of 
the  earlier  entering  groups  be  retained,  as  well  as 
those  of  the  later  entering  groups!  Because  they 
have  moved  forward  step  by  step,  and  because  they 
are  supposed  to  be  more  proficient  since  they  have 
been  through  the  various  classes  of  the  school,  and 
because,  moreover,  the  length  of  their  infant  school 
life  is  ascertainable  from  the  'forms'  (American 
'blanks')  used  in  promotion. 

With  all  these  difficulties  against  the  method,  I 
still  claim  that  the  results,  though  a  satisfactory 
testimonial  to  the  work  of  the  teachers  of  the  pro- 
moted children,  indicate  little  or  no  advantage  in 
early  entry.  However,  I  definitely  decided  that  I 
would  very  carefully  avoid  such  artificial  selections 
in  the  future. 

The  next  infants'  department  in  which  I  made  in- 
quiry was  situated  in  a  rather  good  neighbourhood, 
and  I  decided  to  consider  the  case  of  every  child  who 
would  be  between  seven  and  eight  years  of  age  by 


50  WHEN    SHOULD   A    CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

the  end  of  the  current  educational  year.  These  were 
to  be  found  in  two  classes  working  with  different 
curricula.  The  following  work  was  given  as  the  or- 
dinary] terminal  examination  in  November,  1905. 
The  questions  and  method  of  marking  were  arranged 
by  the  Head  Mistress  and  myself.  The  work  was, 
of  course,  arranged  so  as  to  be  suitable  to  the  classes 
taking  it.  There  are,  doubtless,  better  methods  of 
testing  the  mental  proficiency  of  children;  I  am  by 
no  means  unmindful  of  them;  but  I  desired  my  re- 
sults to  carry  conviction  to  the  teachers  who  arrived 
at  them.  Hence  school  work  was  a  necessary  basis 
of  the  exercises.  We  excluded  all  children  who  had, 
at  any  time,  attended  any  other  school,  and  since 
there  was  only  one  child  who  had  entered  before  the 
age  of  3  years  6  months  her  name  was  left  out. 

These  exercises  were  set  at  the  end  of  November, 
eight  months  before  the  close  of  the  educational  year. 

Reading  for  Standard  I.a.  and  Standard  I.b.  The 
books  were  the  Century  Readers,  Standard  I.  Pas- 
sages were  chosen  which  had  already  been  read  in 
previous  lessons.  Eight  marks  were  given  for  cor- 
rect reading,  one  of  these  being  deducted  for  an 
omission,  or  an  incorrect  rendering,  or  for  imperfect 
articulation.  Two  additional  marks  were  given  for 
"expressiveness"  in  reading. 

Writing  for  Standard  I.a.  and  Standard  I.b.  The 
children  copied  a  written  sentence  from  the  black- 
board, writing  with  pencils  on  three-lined  paper.  A 
maximum  of  10  marks  was  given  to  writing  which 
contained  no  serious  errors. 

Written  Arithmetic  for  Standard  I.a.    Sets  of  four 


AGE    OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL    PROGRESS.  51 

sums  were  written  on  the  blackboard  in  figures. 
These  were  copied  by  the  children  and  worked.  One 
of  these  sets  is  reproduced  below : — 

362  459  870          384x4 

478  276  356            4 

82  305          

897  586  =  = 


Three  marks  each  were  given  for  correct  answers 
to  the  subtraction  and  multiplication  sums,  and  two 
marks  for  each  of  the  addition  sums.  This  was  cor- 
rect marking  for  these  children  at  this  stage  of  their 
work ;  later  on  they  would  find  the  addition  more  dif- 
ficult than  the  subtraction  and  multiplication  sums. 

Written  Arithmetic  for  Standard  I.b.  Sets  of 
sums,  easier  than  those  given  to  Standard  La.,  were 
written  on  the  blackboard  as  before,  and,  as  before, 
were  copied  and  worked  by  the  children.  I  give  one 
set  as  indicative  of  the  difficulty  of  the  work. 

76  43  456  762 

32  56  238  148 

45  24         

8  19  =  = 

27  8 


Three  marks  were  given  for  correct  answers  to 
subtraction  sums,  and  two  for  each  of  the  addition 
sums. 

Mental  Arithmetic  for  Standard  La.  The  follow- 
ing problems  were  given  out  orally  by  the  Head  Mis- 
tress. The  answer,  and  the  answer  only,  was  writ- 
ten down  by  the  children.  This  was  the  first  exer- 
cise worked  in  this  way  by  these  children. 


52  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

1.  Tommy  had  6  marbles  and  Johnny  had  7  and 
James  had  3;  how  many  had  they  altogether?  (One 
mark). 

2.  Mary  had  20  nuts,  her  brother  had  3  less ;  how 
many  did  he  have?     (Three  marks). 

3.  There  were  4  boxes  of  pencils  with  7  in  each 
box;  how  many  pencils  were  there  altogether?  (One 
mark). 

4.  Divide  14  nuts  between  two  boys,  giving  each  of 
them  the  same  number;  how  many  would  each  boy 
have?     (Two  marks). 

5.  Mary  had  seven  thimbles  and  her  sister  had  3 
more  than  Mary.  How  many  thimbles  were  there 
altogether?     (Three  marks). 

The  marks  attached  to  the  problems  were  the  as- 
sessments of  the  Head  Mistress.  I  should  not  my- 
self have  given  more  than  two  marks  for  the  answer 
to  question  2,  but  I  admit  that  the  result  showed  the 
teacher's  estimate  of  difficulty  in  this  case  to  be 
more  correct  than  mine.  Standard  I.b.  worked  no 
problems  in  Arithmetic. 

Spelling  for  Standard  I.a.  Ten  words  were  chosen 
from  lessons  previously  read,  and  were  called  out 
slowly,  one  by  one,  the  children  writing  them  down. 
The  words  were — bread,  salt,  mother,  water,  trees, 
birds,  parrot,  letter,  slate,  pencil.  One  mark  was 
given  for  each  word  spelt  correctly. 

Spelling  for  Standard  I.b.  In  this  class  five  words 
were  given — father,  water,  cart,  face,  hands;  and 
two  marks  were  given  for  each  word  spelt  correctly. 

English  Composition  for  Standard  I.a.  An  object 
lesson  on  water  had  been  given  some  months  pre- 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      53 

viously,  and  the  children  wrote  on  paper  with  pencils 
anything  they  knew  or  remembered  about  "water." 
One  mark  was  given  for  each  intelligible  statement. 
No  marks  were  deducted  for  incorrect  spelling,  punc- 
tuation, construction  or  writing.  Standard  Lb. 
omitted  this  exercise 

Needlework  (for  girls).  Standards  La.  and  Lb.  A 
hemming  exercise  was  given  (without  the  join). 

A  knitting  exercise  was  given  with  chain  edge  and 
casting  off.  Five  marks  were  given  as  a  maximum 
for  each  exercise. 

Drawing  (for  boys).  Standards  La.  and  Lb. 
Each  boy  was  required  to  draw  a  flag  with  his  ruler 
from  a  copy  before  him.  He  was  told  to  make  each 
side  of  the  flag  two  inches  long,  to  join  the  corners, 
and  to  draw  a  long  staff  at  the  bottom.  Two  marks 
were  given  for  approximate  equality  in  the  sides, 
two  were  given  for  approximate  equality  in  the 
angles  and  one  mark  was  given  for  good  diagonals. 
On  a  subsequent  occasion  the  boys,  with  a  big  copy 
of  the  flag  before  them,  drew  it  on  paper  "free 
hand."    The  marks  allotted  were  as  before. 


TABLE  XXIV. 

School  "G. 

"  Infants. 

a 

a  *• 

■x  *  a 

Age  of 
entry. 

Average  age 
of  entry. 

No.  of  childi 

Average  mai 
per  child 
per  subject. 

M.  V. 

£aS 
E.2u 
*£« 

"fig 

t  a  a 
>  a  2 

<  3  a 

Average  age 
on  31,  7,  '06. 

Group      I. 

31/o—4 

3  yrs.  10  mths. 

5     6.2     1.0 

4.5 

7  yrs.  5  mths. 

Group    II. 

4 — 4% 

4  yrs.    3  mths. 

11     7.0       .7 

5.6 

7  yrs.  6  mths. 

Group  III. 

4i/o—5 

4  yrs.    9  mths. 

21     7.4     1.1 

5.6 

7  yrs.  8  mths. 

Group  IV. 

5— 5^. 

5  yrs.    3  mths. 

9     6.9     1.1 

4.8 

7  yrs.  9  mths. 

54  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

It  would  be  very  difficult,  on  these  figures  as  a 
basis,  to  conclude  that  there  is  any  educational  ad- 
vantage in  attendance  at  school  at  an  early  age. 
Nor  do  I  think  we  could  conclude  that  there  is  any 
disadvantage.  The  earliest  entering  group  is  the 
least  proficient,  but  they  happen  to  be  younger  than 
the  others;  and  there  is  some  inferiority  about  the 
latest  group  though  they  are  older  than  the  two 
preceding  ones.  The  striking  thing  is  the  extraor- 
dinarily little  difference  between  the  groups.  We 
fully  realise  this  when  we  reflect  that  Group  I.  will 
have  had  an  average  school  life  of  3  years  7  months, 
Group  II.  an  average  school  life  of  3  years  3  months, 
Group  III.  of  2  years  9  months  and  Group  IV.  of 
only  2  years  6  months,  by  the  end  of  the  current 
educational  year.  If  the  ages  are  calculated  to  the 
end  of  the  month  in  which  these  exercises  were  done, 
Group  I.  has  already  had  a  school  life  of  2  years  11 
months,  Group  II.  of  2  years  7  months,  Group  III. 
of  2  years  1  month,  and  Group  IV.  of  1  year  10 
months  only. 

I  have  suggested  that  the  groups  which  entered 
late  may  owe  their  additional  proficiency  to  the  fact 
that  they  are  older  than  the  groups  who  entered 
earlier.  But  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  this  is  the 
case.  To  test  this  issue,  I  tabulated  the  names  of 
the  children  with  their  ages  at  the  end  of  the  educa- 
tional year,  and  the  total  marks  which  they  obtained 
for  proficiency,  thus : — 


Name. 
Drake,   Frank, 
Cooke,  Reggie, 
Pryor,  Wm., 

Age 

in  in 
84 
84 
85 

89 

91 

tlis. 

Total  marks. 
52 
61 
35 

Hogan,  A  If., 

54 

Hill,  Alice, 

54 

AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      55 

Probably  the  following  table  will  make  clear  that 
age  within  the  limits  of  these  ages,  namely,  7  and  8 
years,  and  within  the  same  class,  is  not  a  factor  of 
importance. 

TABLE  XXV. 
School  "G."  Infants. 


No.  of 

Average  proficiency 

Frrscnt  age. 

children. 

mark. 

7  yrs. 

0  mths.  to  7  yrs. 

3  mths. 

7 

49 

7yrs. 

3  mths.  to  7  yrs. 

5  mths. 

6 

52 

7yrs. 

5  mths.  to  7  yrs. 

7  mths. 

8 

47 

7yrs. 

7  mths.  to  7  yrs. 

9  mths. 

7 

52 

7  yrs. 

9  mths.  to  7  yrs. 

10  mths. 

10 

54 

7  yrs. 

10  mths.  to  8  yrs. 

0  mths. 

8 

44 

If  age  is  a  factor,  though  of  too  slight  a  character 
tc  be  shown  by  a  method  of  grouped  averages,  it 
should  become  apparent  if  we  calculate  the  corre- 
lation between  "months"  and  "marks"  by  the 
product-moment  method.  The  coefficient  of  corre- 
lation, however,  calculated  on  the  Pearson  formula, 
is  — .024,  with  a  "probable  error"  of  .1. 

If  then,  within  these  groups,  we  are  entitled  to 
regard  age  as  an  unimportant  factor,  it  will  become 
more  probable  from  the  Table  of  Averages  (Table 
XXIV.)  that  early  age  of  entry  has  not  favourably 
affected  the  mental  proficiency  of  these  children.  My 
next  step  was  to  rearrange  the  tabulated  list  of 
names,  and  to  consider  only  the  correlation  between 
length  of  school  life  and  mental  proficiency.  The 
list  was  thus  arranged: — 

Length  of  school  life 
beginning  with  the 
Name.  longest.  Months.    Total  marks. 

Syancott,  Alice,  3  yrs.  1 1  mths.  47  45 

Fullerton.  Dollv,  3  yrs.  11  mths.  47  51 

Sehalk,  Rose,    "  3  yrs.  11  mths.  47  45 

Brookman,  B.,  3  yrs.  10  mths.  46  33 


Goodyer,  Nellie,  2  yrs.    2  mths.  26  57 


56 


WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 


Average   total 

in  a  rk  for 

N 

0.  of 

proficiency  to  the 

Length  of  school  life. 

chi 

ldren. 

nearest  unit. 

47  mths.  to  39  mths. 

7 

47 

39  mths.  to  35  mths. 

8 

49 

35  mths.  to  34  mths. 

18 

49 

34  mths.  to  32  mths. 

5 

50 

32  mths.  to  26  mths. 

8 

53 

Collecting  these  results  and  grouping  them,  the 
result  indicates  that,  so  far  as  this  school  is  con- 
cerned, there  is  a  slight  positive  advantage  in 
commencing  late,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following- 
table. 

TABLE  XXVI. 

School  "G."    Infants.     Class  i.    Standard  La. 


M.  V. 
6 
7 
7 
7 
5 

I  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  tabulate  the  results 
of  the  children's  work  in  Class  ii.  with  those  of 
Class  i.,  but  this  school  was  one  in  which  no  English 
Composition  had  been  done  and  no  problems  in 
Arithmetic  had  been  given  to  the  pupils  until  they 
reached  the  first  class;  and,  as  was  seen  above,  the 
work  set  for  Class  ii.  was  different  from  that  set 
for  Class  i.    I  therefore  give  the  results  separately. 

TABLE  XXVII. 
School  "G."    Infants.    Class  ii.    Standard  Lb. 

Avprnirn   mark 

Average  age 

on  31,  7,  '06. 

7  yrs.  1  mth. 
7  yrs.  3  mths. 
7  yrs.  3  mths. 
7  yrs.  3  mths. 

Again  there  are  distinct  indications  of  a  rise  in 
proficiency  with  late  entry  into  school,  nor  is  there 
any  suggestion  afforded  by  the  table  that  this  is  due 


A  vera  up  mark 

No. 

of 

per  child 

■  of  entry. 

children. 

per 

suh.iect. 

ZVz—1 

2 

4.5 

4—4% 

4 

4.1 

4y2—5 

3 

4.8 

5— 5% 

6 

5.7 

AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  57 

to  the  fact  that  the  later  entries  were  older  at  the 
time  of  the  examination  than  the  earlier  ones.  But, 
of  course,  in  order  to  obtain  a  complete  estimate  I 
ought  to  be  able  to  put  the  results  of  the  two  classes 
together,  and  that  I  cannot  do  for  the  reason  I 
have  given  above.  However,  it  may  be  interesting 
to  classify  the  results  of  this  class  also  in  relation 
to  length  of  school  life. 

TABLE  XXVIII. 
School  "G."    Infants. 


Length  of 

No.  of 

Average 

Average  age 

school   life. 

children. 

total  mark. 

on  31,  7,  '06. 

30  to  35  mths. 

3 

19 

7  vrs.  3      mths, 

35  to  33  mths. 

4 

18 

7  yrs.  2V2  mths 

33  to  23  mths. 

5 

31 

7  yrs.  3%  mths, 

23  mths. 

3 

28 

7  yrs.  2]/3  mths, 

The  correlation  between  length  of  school  life  and 
mental  proficiency  worked  out  from  the  individual 
cases  on  the  Pearson  formula  is  — .45  with  a  "prob- 
able error"  of  .14.  This  result  is  in  favour  of  late 
entry;  but  it  must  in  fairness  be  considered  in  con- 
junction with  those  of  Standard  I.a.  And  it  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  within  this  class  the  relation 
between  age  at  the  time  of  the  examination  and  pro- 
ficiency is  perhaps  somewhat  inverse,  as  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  table  of  averages: 

TABLE  XXIX. 
School  "G."    Infants. 


No.  of 

A  vr 

rage  total  mark 

Age  on  31,  7,  *06. 

children. 

to 

nearest  unit. 

7  yrs  Omths. 

3 

28 

7  yrs.  1  mth. 

4 

21 

7  yrs.  2  mths.  and  7  yrs.  3  mths. 

3 

29 

7  yrs.  5  mths.  and  7  yrs.  6  mths. 

3 

24 

7  yrs.  8  mths. 

2 

22 

58  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

The  next  school  for  which  the  results  of  my  in- 
quiry are  presented  is  very  favourably  situated  in 
a  good  neighbourhood.  It  has  already  been  referred 
to  as  School  "R."  This  infants'  school  had  long- 
been  known  as  one  in  which  Beading,  Writing  and 
Arithmetic  were  postponed  until  the  higher  classes 
were  reached;  so,  as  I  intended  to  use  a  school  ex- 
amination of  a  Standard  I.  character  which  involved 
these  subjects,  I  limited  my  inquiry  to  the  three 
large  classes  which  were  already  in  that  Standard. 
A  few  children  over  seven  years  of  age  were  in  lower 
classes,  but  so  few  that  their  inclusion  could  have 
affected  the  result  but  little. 

The  following  exercises  were  set: 

Reading.  Each  child  read  from  a  Standard  I. 
book  which  had  not  before  been  seen.  It  was  se- 
lected so  as  to  be  of  moderate  difficulty  only.  About 
five  lines  were  read  by  each  pupil,  one  mark  being 
deducted  for  each  error  from  a  maximum  of  10. 

Dictation.  Ten  words  were  dictated — kettle,  boil, 
rabbit,  tail,  caught,  cruel,  bread,  branch,  neat,  early. 
One  mark  was  allowed  for  each  word  correctly  spelt. 

Written  Arithmetic.  The  following  sums  were  dic- 
tated: (1)  ninety  plus  five  hundred  and  eighteen 
plus  seven  hundred  and  sixty-one  plus  eighty-eight 
plus  three  hundred  and  thirty-six.  (2)  Take  away 
seventy-seven  from  ninety-one.  (3)  Multiply  five 
hundred  and  six  by  five.  (4)  Divide  ninety-five  by 
four.  Three  marks  each  were  given  for  the  subtrac- 
tion and  division  sums  and  two  marks  each  for  the 
addition  and  multiplication  sums. 

Mental  Arithmetic.    Five  problems  were  given  out 


AGE    OF    ENTRY    AND    SCHOOL    PROGRESS.  59 

orally,  each  one  having  two  "steps."  The  children 
wrote  down  the  answers  and  the  answers  only.  Two 
marks  were  given  for  each  correct  answer.  The 
exercises  were : 

(1)  Tom  had  half  a  dozen  nuts  and  John  had  three 
times  as  many;  how  many  had  they  together? 

(2)  If  I  have  four  boxes  with  four  pencils  in  each 
box,  how  many  more  shall  I  need  to  make  twenty- 
four! 

(3)  I  had  twenty- four  apples  in  a  basket.  I  took 
half  of  them  out  and  divided  them  equally  among 
three  boys ;  how  many  did  each  boy  get  ? 

(4)  If  I  bought  five  oranges  every  day  for  five 
days  and  then  gave  away  nineteen,  how  many  had  I 
left? 

(5)  John  has  fifteen  oranges  and  Tom  has  three 
more  than  John;  how  many  have  they  together? 

English  Composition.  A  picture  was  placed  be- 
fore the  children  which  they  had  not  seen  before, 
and  they  were  required  to  write  down  anything 
which  they  saw  in  it  or  thought  about  it.  Spelling, 
punctuation  and  grammatical  construction  were  dis- 
regarded, a  mark  being  given  up  to  a  maximum  of  10 
for  every  intelligible  statement.  (I  need  hardly 
say  that  the  maximum  was  chosen  so  as  to  be  suit- 
able to  the  best  pupils.) 

Drawing  and  Needlework.  The  boys  did  one  of 
their  usual  exercises  in  drawing  and  the  girls  one 
in  simple  needlework  which  were  marked  by  the 
teachers  in  the  usual  way  up  to  a  maximum  of  10. 
Great  care  was  used  to  adjust  the  standard  of  mark- 
ing of  drawing  and  needlework,  so  that  neither  the 


60  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIX    SCHOOL. 

boys  nor  girls  got  an  advantage  in  marks  because 
of  their  respective  subjects. 

Writing.  A  writing  exercise  given  by  the  head 
mistress  was  also  marked  up  to  a  maximum  of  10. 
It  was  the  practice  in  this  school  to  mark  the  writ- 
ing with  great  care ;  very  few  pupils  indeed  received 
the  maximum  mark. 

The  results  were  summarized  on  the  basis  of 
length  of  school  life  and  are  given  below: 

TABLE  XXX. 
School  "R."  Infants. 


Length  of  d  Average  age      «,§ 

school    life.       vi  g       Average  time        Average  age  at  time  of        £~ 

c-3  in  school.  of  entry.  examination.      ~ « 

'Art  < a 

4 — 4i/>yrs.  4  4  yrs.    2  mths.  3  yrs.  G  mths.  7  yrs.  8  mths.  6.6 

3y.2 — iyrs.  ]f>  3  yrs.  10 mths.  3  yrs.  8 mths.  7  yrs.  G  mths.  6.7 

3 — 3%  yrs.  7  3  yrs.    2  mths.  4  yrs.  3  mths.  7  yrs.  5  mths.  6.5 

21/, — 3  yrs.  24  2  yrs.    9  mths.  4  yrs.  8  mths.  7  \  is.  7  mths.  6.8 

2_l2y2yr8.  23  2  yrs.    3  mths.  5  yrs.  2  mths.  7  yrs.  5  mths.  6.4 

li/( — 2  yrs.  19  1  yr.    10  mths.  5  yrs.  7  mths.  7  yrs.  5  mths.  6.0 

l—iy2  yrs.  7  1  yr.      4  mths.  6  yrs.  2  mths.  7  yrs.  6  mths.  6.0 

It  is  certainly  astonishing  to  find  how  little  dif- 
ference there  is  in  attainments  between  those  chil- 
dren who  have  had  three  and  four  years  of  school 
teaching  and  those  who  have  had  but  one  or  two.  It 
is  not,  as  might  be  suggested,  due  to  the  almost  ex- 
clusive kindergarten  work  in  the  lower  classes,  for 
the  same  result  was  found  in  other  schools,  notably 
in  School  "G,"  in  which  the  work  even  of  the  lowest 
class  was  thought  to  be  directly  preparatory  for  that 
of  the  Standard  classes.  But  after  an  entrance  age 
of  5,  there  is  a  slight  though  definite  drop.    Between 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  61 

the  ages  of  3  and  5  neither  advantage  nor  disad- 
vantage can  be  claimed  for  early  entry. 

It  might,  however,  be  maintained  that  early  kin- 
dergarten work,  whilst  not  favouring  the  acquisi- 
tion of  such  aptitudes  as  Reading,  Spelling,  Nota- 
tion and  Computation,  would  still  exercise  a  favour- 
able influence  on  the  activities  involved  in  English 
Composition  and  in  the  mental  solution  of  numeri- 
cal problems.  These  exercises  would  be  chosen  by 
teachers  as  specially  indicative  of  what  is  called 
"intelligence."    The  grouping  is  as  before: — 

TABLE  XXXI. 
School  "R."     Infants. 

Average  mark  for 

composition  and 

mental   arithmetic. 

7.1 
6.1 
5.1 
6.1 
4.9 
5.2 
5.6 

There  seems,  as  in  former  cases,  to  be  no  advan- 
tage in  early  entry,  at  least  until  after  an  entrance 
age  of  about  5  years  is  passed,  and  it  is  rather  doubt- 
ful even  then.  The  question  at  issue  is,  however, 
so  important  that  I  thought  it  necessary  to  get  a 
more  accurate  measure  of  correlation  than  can  be 
provided  by  a  number  of  fluctuating  averages;  so 
the  names  of  all  these  pupils  were  arranged  in  order 


Length  of  school  life. 

No.  of 

children. 

4 — iy2  yrs. 

4 

3y2— 4yrs. 

15 

3— 3%  yrs. 

7 

2%— 3  yrs. 

24 

2— 2V»  vrs. 

23 

1%— 2  yrs. 

19 

1—1%  yrs. 

7 

showing 

Combined  mark  for 

Length 

of  school  life 

composition  and  mental 

Name. 

in 

months. 

arithmetic.    Mas.  20. 

Davis,  Harold, 

51 

7 

Rumsden,  Stanley, 

51 

16 

Harding,    Harold, 

50 

12 

Sherington,  Leslie, 

49 

18 

Anderson,  Florence,  14  15 


(ili  WHEN    SHOULD   A    CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

Then  the  product-moment  formula  was  applied 
and  the  correlation  between  length  of  school  life  and 
proficiency  in  composition  and  mental  arithmetic 
was  found  to  be  +.159  with  a  "probable  error"  of 
.06.  It  is  just  possible  that  length  of  school  life 
has  favourably  influenced  the  work  in  English  Com- 
position and  Mental  Arithmetic,  but  also  there  is 
no  doubt  that,  if  so,  its  influence  is  extremely  small. 
And  it  is  in  the  groups  entering  after  5  years  that 
this  decline,  small  as  it  is,  takes  place. 

The  next  infants'  department,  the  results  from 
which  are  presented  here,  was  of  different  char- 
acter from  the  last.  If  the  elementary  schools 
of  London  were  graded  into  four  classes  according 
to  the  character  of  the  neighbourhoods  in  which  they 
are  situated,  this  school  would  fall  in  Class  2,  count- 
ing upwards  from  those  situated  in  the  worst  neigh- 
bourhoods as  Class  1.  Further,  the  school  was  very 
small,  containing  only  four  classes :  the  head  mistress 
young  and  enthusiastic  and  full  of  the  conviction 
that  good  method  in  infants'  departments  implied,  as 
the  word  method  is  supposed  to  imply,  "method"  for 
learning  something,  and  not,  as  is  sometimes  thought, 
"method"  for  its  own  sake.  Further,  all  the  chil- 
dren between  7  and  8  years  of  age  (there  were  none 
in  the  school  over  8)  at  the  end  of  the  educational 
year  were  in  the  Standard  I.  class ;  so  that  the  ordi- 
nary terminal  examination,  which  was,  as  usual, 
taking  place  just  previous  to  the  end  of  the  educa- 
tional year,  was  quite  adequate  for  my  purpose. 
As  before,  all  cases  were  excluded  of  children  who 
had  ever  attended  any  other  schools. 


AGE   OF    ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  63 

The  questions  set  at  the  terminal  examination  and 
the  method  of  marking  the  exercises  were  as  fol- 
low— : 

Reading.  Each  child  read  two  paragraphs  from 
the  King  Alfred  Reader  (page  30  onwards),  was 
asked  to  pronounce  at  sight,  without  the  context, 
difficult  words  occurring  therein,  and  was  also  asked 
two  questions  on  the  meaning  of  phrases.  A  mark 
was  subtracted  for  every  error  or  word  unsatisfac- 
torily articulated. 

English  Composition.  The  Head  Mistress  told  the 
children  the  story  of  the  Lion  and  the  Mouse.  Im- 
mediately afterwards,  they  wrote  down  what  they 
could  remember  of  it,  with  pen  and  ink,  using  their 
own  words.  One  mark  was  given  for  every  intelli- 
gible statement  bearing  on  the  tale.  Two  marks 
were  given  for  a  statement  expressing,  in  any  way 
whatever,  the  "moral"  of  the  story.  No  marks  were 
given  for  spelling,  punctuation  or  grammatical  con- 
struction. 

Dictation.  Ten  words — Fairy,  beautiful,  castle,  sol- 
dier, ditch,  friend,  afraid,  animal,  slept,  noise — were 
called  out  slowly,  the  children  writing  them  down  one 
by  one.  One  mark  was  given  for  each  word  correctly 
spelt. 

Hand-Writing.  The  children  were  required  to 
write  the  following  sentence  copied  from  a  printed 
book. — "Tom  never  had  any  money  to  spend." 
One  mark  was  subtracted  from  ten  as  a  maximum, 
for  every  word  copied  wrongly,  and  every  letter 
wrongly  made  or  wrongly  joined  up. 

Arithmetic. The  whole  class  was  divided  into  two 


64  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

sets,  A's  and  B's.  I  give  those  sums  only  which 
were  set  to  A's.  The  numbers  were  given  out  con- 
cretely, that  is,  they  were  called  "apples"  or  "boys" 
or  something  material;  and  the  subtraction  sums 
were  not  necessarily  called  out  with  their  minuends 
first. 

The  following  were  the  numbers  given: 

600  8 

99         0(l<)         86fl         nno 

876  87  694  69ft 

654  650  

427  876  =         = 


Three  marks  were  given  for  each  addition  sum 
taken  down  correctly  and  correctly  worked,  and  two 
marks  for  each  subtraction  sum. 

Arithmetic.  Written  Problems.  The  following 
sums  were  set  in  writing  and  the  children  answered 
in  writing. 

1.  In  a  train  there  are  96  people.  If  78  get  out 
how  many  will  there  still  be  in  the  train? 

2.  64  sheep  were  put  into  a  field  and  then  26 
more.    How  many  were  there  in  the  field  altogether! 

3.  In  a  box  there  are  99  eggs.  72  were  taken  out 
and  six  were  broken;  how  many  eggs  were  left? 

4.  A  boy  has  83  nuts  in  one  bag  and  46  in  another 
bag.    He  loses  13,  how  many  has  he  after  that? 

Two  marks  were  given  for  the  correct  answers  to 
each  of  numbers  1  and  2,  and  3  marks  for  correct 
answers  to  each  of  numbers  3  and  4. 

Arithmetic.    Mental  Problems. 

The  following  questions  were  asked  one  by  one 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      65 

by  the  teacher  and  each  child  wrote  down  the  answer 
after  working  the  sum  mentally.  Two  marks  were 
given  for  each  correct  answer. 

a.  There  were  12  trees  in  a  row  and  there  were 
10  of  these  rows.  If  two  were  blown  down,  how  many 
were  left  standing? 

b.  If  25  oranges  were  divided  among  4  boys  so 
that  each  got  the  same  number,  how  many  did  each 
get  and  how  many  were  left  over? 

c.  There  were  12  sweets  in  one  box  and  16  sweets 
in  another.  How  many  should  I  have  to  take  out 
of  one  box  and  put  in  the  other  box  so  as  to  get  the 
same  number  in  each? 

d.  John  has  6  marbles  and  Tom  has  2  more  than 
John.    How  many  have  Tom  and  John  together? 

e.  Showing  13  nuts  lying  on  a  table  the  teacher 
asked,  "If  4  boys  divide  these  13  nuts  among  them, 
so  as  to  have  each  an  equal  number,  how  many  will 
be  left  on  the  table?" 

Drawing  (for  boys). 

(1)  An  exercise  was  given  to  be  copied  with  the 
aid  of  ruler  and  set-square,  and  marks  were  de- 
ducted for  crooked  lines  or  lines  wrongly  placed. 

(2)  A  kite  was  shown  to  the  class  and  the  chil- 
dren drew  it  "freehand"  as  well  as  they  could. 
Marks  were  deducted  for  omission  of  important 
parts  or  very  unsatisfactory  proportions. 

Needlework  (for  girls).  Coloured  cotton  was 
used  for  the  following  exercises: 

(a)  A  strip  of  hemming  showing  "beginning  on" 
and  "break  in  hem." 


66  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

(b)  A  strip  of  top-sewing,  5  inches  long,  showing 
"beginning  on"  and  sewing. 

Marks  were  deducted  if  the  stitches  were  too 
small,  or  were  very  irregular  in  size;  also  for  in- 
correct "beginning  on." 

The  general  summary  of  results  follows : — 

TABLE  XXXII. 

School  "C."  Infants. 


Average 

Average  age  at 

Age  of 

No.  of 

mark  per 

the  t toe  of  this 

Average  length  of 

entry. 

children. 

subject. 

examination. 

school  life. 

3— 3%  yrs. 

8 

6.2 

7  yrs.  5  mths. 

4  yrs.  1  mth. 

3%— 4jts. 

6 

5.6 

7  yrs.  6  mths. 

3  yrs.  7  mths. 

4 — 4%  yrs. 

12 

5.0 

7  yrs.  5  mths. 

3  yrs.  1  mth. 

41/. — 5  yrs. 

9 

5.6 

7  yrs.  7  mths. 

2  yrs.  9  mths. 

5—5y2  yrs. 

8 

5.3 

7  yrs.  8  mths. 

2  yrs.  4  mths. 

5^—6  yrs. 

4 

5.0 

7  yrs.  9  mths. 

2  yrs.  1  mth. 

If  we  are  entitled  to  assume  that  the  older  groups 
ought  to  be  more  proficient  than  the  younger  ones 
within  this  class,  which,  it  will  be  remembered,  con- 
tains all  the  children  in  the  school  between  7  and  8 
years  of  age,  and  no  children  either  over  8  or  un- 
der 7,  we  may,  I  think,  conclude  that  there  is,  per- 
haps, a  slight  positive  relation  between  early  entry 
and  proficiency.  The  most  proficient  group  is  that 
entering  from  3  to  3*4  years.  Five  of  these  children 
are  marked  as  coming  from  especially  good  homes 
and  only  one  as  coming  from  a  'poor'  home;  and 
this  factor,  which  I  hope  to  deal  with  at  length  pres- 
ently, doubtless  counts  for  something;  whereas  the 
four  children  in  the  latest  entering  group  include 
two  children  from  very  poor  homes  and  none  from 
homes  marked  specially  good.  And  of  the  second 
group,  namely,  those  entering  from  3y2  to  4  years 
of  age,  four  are  marked  as  coming  from  specially 


AGE    OF    ENTRY    AND    SCHOOL    PROGRESS.  67 

good  homes.  In  any  case,  however,  the  difference 
made  by  additional  months  and  years  of  schooling 
seems  very  slight.  The  last  column,  indeed,  seems 
to  me  a  most  instructive  one,  the  facts  of  which 
should  be  borne  in  mind  whenever  we  look  at  this 
table.  The  drop  occurs  after  an  entrance  age  of  5 
years  is  passed. 

I  propose  to  work  out  the  correlation  between 
age  of  entry  in  months  and  proficiency  as  measured 
by  the  results  of  this  examination  by  the  usual  for- 
mula from  the  individual  results.  The  conclusion 
is,  of  course,  dependent  on  the  assumption  that  gen- 
eral mental  proficiency  can  be  measured  by  care- 
fully conducted  school  examinations.  I  believe  it  can, 
but  believe  also  that  it  can  be  better  measured  by  ex- 
ercises more  strictly  psychological,  a  question  which, 
however,  for  the  present,  must  be  set  on  one  side. 
On  the  assumption  that  we  are  measuring  the  men- 
tal proficiency  of  these  children  with  approximate 
accuracy,  we  proceed,  as  in  former  cases,  to  arrange 
the  names  and  figures  in  appropriate  columns,  in 
preparation  for  estimating  exactly  the  relation  be- 
twen  the  quantities  we  are  considering  by  means  of 
a  formula  of  correlation. 

Name.  Age  of  entry  in  Total  mark  for  all 

months.  subjects. 

Creed,  Alf.,  36  44 

Dawe,  Fred..  36  44 

Capern,  Fred.,  38  64 


Hall,  Florence,  70  47 

The  correlation  between  age  of  entry  and  mental 
proficiency  =  — .167  with  a  'probable  error'  of  .1. 
This  appears  to  indicate  a  slight  advantage  in  early 
entry,  but  the  size  of  the  probable  error  as  com- 


G8  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

pared  with  the  coefficient  of  correlation,  renders  the 
conclusion  decidedly  uncertain ;  though  we  have  also 
to  remember  that  the  later  entering  groups  were 
slightly  older  at  the  time  of  the  examination. 

All  the  above  observations  had  been  made  dur- 
ing the  summer  and  autumn  of  1905  and  winter  of 
1905-1906;  the  next  were  made  in  the  spring  of  1907. 
The  school  in  which  they  were  made  was  unknown 
to  me  personally,  except  in  connection  with  a  pre- 
vious inquiry  as  to  the  best  methods  of  teaching 
reading.    It  was  situated  near  a  suburban  common 
in  a  rather  good  residential  district:  the  Boys'  and 
Girls'  departments,  were,  I  believe,  known  as  Higher 
Grade  Schools.    The  stories,  toys,  animals  and  sen- 
sory stimulations,  which  are  now  recommended  for 
the  teaching  of  young  children,  had  long  been  a  no- 
ticeable feature  in  the  work  of  this  school.     There 
was,  too,  a  quite  unusual  absence  of  restraint,  and 
it  was  with  very  considerable  interest  that  the  Head 
Mistress   and   I   set   about   our   inquiry.     We   de- 
cided to  deal  with  every  child  on  the  school  regis- 
ter who  would  be  7  or  over  7  years  of  age  at  the 
close  of  the  educational  year,  excluding,  of  course, 
as  in  previous  cases,  all  those  who  had  ever  at- 
tended any  other  school,   public  or  private.     The 
children    in    question    were    to    be    found    in    four 
classes,  in  Standard  La.   (Boys),  in  Standard  La. 
(Girls),  in  Standard  Lb.  (Boys  and  Girls),  and  in 
Grade  III.1    (Boys  and  Girls).     We  were   able  to 
schedule  40  in  the  Best  of  these  classes,  38  in  the 
second,  and  45  in  the  third   (the  half-dozen  in  the 
fourth  class  are  included  here).    This  fact  in  itself 
speaks  volumes  for  the  non-migratory  character  of 

'Grade  III  is  an  Infant  School  Krading:  it  consists  chiefly  of  six-year-old  children. 


AGE   OF    ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  69 

the  population  of  the  neighbourhood,  which  was  in- 
deed a  settled  one,  possessing  well-grown  children. 
The  children  in  the  fourth  class  referred  to  did  not 
number  more  than  half-a-dozen  altogether. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  give  again  in  detail  an 
account  of  how  the  schedules  were  prepared.  A 
terminal  examination  had  been  conducted  as  usual, 
just  before  the  preceding  Christmas,  by  the  Head 
Mistress,  and  individual  marks  had  been  given  for 
Beading,  Writing,  Spelling,  Written  Arithmetic  and 
Mental  Arithmetic.  Each  of  these  subjects  received 
a  maximum  of  10  marks.  The  work  set  for  the 
Standard  La.  (boys'  class)  and  the  Standard  La. 
(girls'  class)  had  been  the  same;  but,  as  the  results 
from  the  girls'  class  are  somewhat  lower  through- 
out, and  especially  in  Mental  and  Written  Arithme- 
tic, I  shall  present  the  results  for  the  two  classes 
separately.  The  work  set  for  Standard  Lb.  was  not 
so  hard  as  that  set  for  Standard  La.,  and  boys  and 
girls  in  this  class  were  taught  together.  Some  half- 
dozen  children  who  were  below  the  standard  classes 
are  included  with  Standard  Lb. 

The  following  are  the  results  of  the  Head  Mis- 
tress's terminal  examination: — 

TABLE  XXXIII. 

School  "W."    Infants. 
Standard  La.  Boys. 


No.  of 

Average  age  on 

Average  mark  per 

Age  of  entry. 

children. 

31,  7,  '07. 

subject. 

3— 3y2 

3 

7  yrs.  11  mths. 

8.9 

3%— 4 

8 

7  yrs.  11  mths. 

8.7 

4—4% 

13 

7  yrs.    9  mths. 

8.9 

4y.—5 

3 

7  yrs.  10  mths. 

8.9 

5— sy2 

2 

7  yrs.  10  mths. 

9.6 

70  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

Standard  La.  Girls. 


No.  of 

Average  age  on 

Average  mark  per 

Age  of  entry- 

children. 

31,  7.  '07. 

subject. 

3—3% 

0 

Oyrs.    0  mths. 

0.0 

3%— 4 

2 

7  yrs.    8  mths. 

6.6 

4—4% 

14 

7  yrs.    8  mths. 

7.2 

4y2—5 

14 

7  yrs.  11  mths. 

7.!) 

5—5y2 

7 

7  yrs.  11  mths. 

6.4 

51/2—6 

1 

7  yrs.    8  mths. 

6.8 

Standard  Lb.  Boys  and  Girls. 

No.  of 

Average  age  on 

Average  mark  per 

Age  of  entry. 

children. 

31,  7,  '07. 

subject. 

3—31/. 

4 

7  yrs.    9  mths. 

8.0 

3y2-^ 

5 

7  yrs.    4  mths. 

6.6 

4—4% 

10 

7  yrs.    6  mths. 

7.4 

4^—5 

8 

7  yrs.    8  mths. 

7.2 

5—51/2 

15 

7  yrs.    5  mths. 

7.1 

51/2—6 

2 

7  yrs.    6  mths. 

7.(5 

6— 6 1/2 

1 

7  yrs.    5  mths. 

8.4 

It  would,  I  think,  be  difficult  to  conclude  anything 
from  these  figures  except  the  irrelevance  of  the  en- 
trance age  up  to  5  years  at  least.  There  seems, 
however,  to  be  some  indication  in  this  school  that 
entrance  after  five  is  accompanied  by  slightly  di- 
minished progress;  the  average  mark  for  all  chil- 
dren entering  after  5  is  7.2. 

But  of  course  there  are  difficulties  in  accepting 
these  results  as  altogether  beyond  criticism.  In  the 
first  place,  the  proportion  of  children  entering  at 
later  ages  as  compared  with  earlier  ones  is  greater 
in  Standard  Lb.  than  in  the  two  Standard  La. 
classes.  And  in  the  second  place,  I  doubted  whether 
the  exercises  given  were,  perhaps,  altogether  ade- 
quate to  test  the  advantage  of  early  entry  in  a 
school  whose  lower  classes  were  taught  so  exclu- 
sively on  what  are  usually  called  "kindergarten" 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      71 

methods.  Further,  I  had  long  had  in  mind  a  psy- 
chological examination  rather  than  one  based  on 
attainments  in  subjects  which  had  been  directly 
taught  in  school.  If,  however,  I  used  well-known 
psychological  tests,  I  should  not  necessarily  carry 
the  teachers  with  me  in  the  work  and  in  the  con- 
clusions arrived  at.  So  I  finally  effected  a  kind  of 
compromise.  All  the  children  were  tested  by  me 
and  their  exercises  were  worked  in  my  presence. 
The  Head  Mistress,  the  Teachers  and  myself  marked 
the  papers  conjointly  and  the  exercises  set  were  un- 
like those  that  had  been  set  before  for  school  work. 
I  thought  if  I  could  get  an  exercise  which  should 
measure  the  power  to  perceive  visual  form,  if  I 
could  get  an  immediate  memory  exercise  and  an 
imagination  exercise,  I  should  do  well.  And  I  sub- 
sequently determined  on  an  exercise  in  reasoning, 
using — since  the  children  were  somewhat  accus- 
tomed to  reason  numerically — some  problems  involv- 
ing number,  most  of  which  were  new.  I  have  since 
found  cause  to  believe  that  the  correlation  between 
numerical  and  general  unquantitative  reasoning  may 
not  be  very  high,  at  least  with  older  children:  but 
my  readers  will  at  least  accept  the  test  as  bearing 
on  school  proficiency. 

I  propose  to  give  the  exercises  in  full  with  their 
method  of  administration  and  marking.  Only  two 
of  these  exercises  were  given  to  the  same  child  the 
same  morning. 

Immediate  Memory.  Considering  the  ages  of  the 
children,  I  thought  it  advisable  to  use  an  auditory 
test  (most  of  these  children  were  probably,  by  this 
age,  predominantly  visual,  as  some  of  my  subse- 


72  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

quent  work  has  indicated.  I  was,  however,  accept- 
ing American  and  German  results  as  valid  for  Eng- 
lish children).  The  test  consisted  of  six  consonants 
selected  so  as  to  yield  no  obvious  associations  to 
the  minds  of  the  children.  They  were  called  out 
twice  in  20  seconds  in  a  firm,  clear  voice,  with  a 
slight  pause  after  the  third  and  a  longer  pause  after 
the  sixth.  It  is  probable  that  a  grouping  into  threes 
■for  children  of  this  age  is  the  most  satisfactory 
division  of  six  units.  One  minute  and  forty  sec- 
onds were  allowed,  during  which  the  children  wrote 
down  as  much  as  they  could  remember.  At  the 
expiration  of  two  minutes  from  the  commencement 
of  the  exercises  the  second  series  of  six  consonants 
was  given  out,  and  so  on  throughout.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  specimen  exercise : — 

y  s  b  m  t  r 
Six  of  these  exercises  were  given  one  after  the 
other.  The  method  of  marking  was  as  follows : — 
Three  marks  were  allowed  for  every  consonant  cor- 
rectly placed,  two  marks  if  the  consonant  was  one 
remove  to  the  right  or  left  of  its  proper  position, 
and  one  mark  if  it  was  two  places  to  the  right  or 
left  of  its  proper  position.  My  reader  will  see  that 
we  have  a  possible  mark  of  no  less  than  108;  the 
highest  mark  actually  obtained  was  100,  the  lowest 
17;  the  Standard  La.  class  averaged  60,  the  lower 
classes  about  40.  The  only  present  interest  attach- 
ing to  these  figures  is  the  indication  that  we  had 
obtained  a  series  of  numbers  which  would  be  very 
sensitive  to  inequalities  of  merit.  For  purposes 
of  tabulation  the  marks  were  reduced  to  a  basis  of 
10  as  a  maximum. 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  73 

Observation  Exercise.  On  the  same  morning,  after 
an  interval  of  a  few  minutes,  a  large  and  some- 
what diagrammatic  drawing  of  the  seed  pods  of 
the  sycamore  (1  foot  4  inches  by  1  foot  in  size) 
was  placed  before  the  children  and  they  were  asked 
to  draw  on  paper  what  they  saw.  But  it  was  not 
intended  that  the  exercise  should  be  one  of  dexter- 
ity in  draughtsmanship.  In  marking  the  papers,  at- 
tention was  paid  only  to  the  presence  or  absence 
of  important  parts  and  their  relative  proportions. 
Three  persons,  two  of  the  teachers  and  myself, 
jointly  assessed  each  paper  with  10  for  a  maximum 
mark.  The  highest  mark  was  9,  the  lowest  1  and 
the  average  was  approximately  5. 

Imagination  Exercise.  About  a  week  later  a  new 
exercise  was  given  in  English  Composition.  The 
words  cat,  dog,  boy,  girl  were  written  on  the  black- 
board and  the  children  were  asked  to  write  a  story 
and  put  these  words  in  it.  In  marking  their  exer- 
cises, one  mark  was  given  for  every  intelligible  state- 
ment, with  an  additional  mark  if  the  statement  was 
connected  with  the  previous  one.  No  errors  in  spell- 
ing or  punctuation  were  marked,  nor  was  a  proper 
sentence  form  insisted  on.  Any  statement  either 
as  sentence  or  phrase  received  a  mark  if  it  was  in 
any  way  intelligible.  The  highest  mark  was  27 ;  four 
children  received  no  marks,  and  there  were  five  with 
1  mark  only.  The  average  mark  in  the  Standard 
I.a.  classes  was  approximately  15y2,  the  boys  scor- 
ing about  14  and  the  girls  17  marks.  In  Standard 
I.b.  the  average  mark  was  5.  In  summarizing  the 
marks  they  were  reduced  to  the  basis  of  10  as  a 
maximum. 


<4  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

Reasoning  Exercise.  On  the  same  morning,  the 
two  exercises  being  separated  by  an  interval,  the 
following  numerical  problems  were  given.  They 
were  written  by  the  teacher  on  the  blackboard,  read 
by  the  teacher,  then  read  by  me,  and  were  illus- 
trated concretely  to  the  children  with  everything 
necessary  to  make  the  problems  understood,  though 
in  no  case  were  the  objects  used  about  which  the 
calculations  had  to  be  made — these  were  imaginary 
in  every  case.  The  following  were  the  problems 
with  the  marks  allowed  attached.  Only  the  answers 
were  to  be  written  down : 

1.  There  were  10  boys  in  this  room,  2  in  the  next 
and  2  in  the  next;  how  many  boys  are  there  alto- 
gether? (one  mark). 

2.  There  are  16  marbles  in  this  box  and  12  in  this 
box ;  how  many  more  are  there  in  the  first  than  in 
the  second?  (two  marks). 

3.  If  there  are  7  trees  in  a  row  and  there  are  4 
rows,  how  many  trees  are  there  altogether?  (one 
mark). 

4.  There  are  6  boys  and  we  are  going  to  divide 
a  shilling  between  them;  how  many  pennies  will  each 
boy  get?  (one  mark). 

5.  Miss  A.  (one  of  the  teachers)  has  10  prizes  and 
Miss  B.  (another  teacher)  has  6  prizes;  how  many 
must  I  take  away  from  Miss  A  so  that  they  shall 
both  have  the  same  number?  (three  marks). 

(5.  f  divide  sixpence  between  these  two  girls  so 
that  one  shall  have  twopence  more  than  the  other; 
how  much  will  they  each  get?  (three  marks,  one  cor- 
rect answer  one  mark). 


AGE   OF    ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  75 

7.  Here  are  two  boys — Johnny  and  Tommy. 
Tommy  has  8  nuts  and  Johnny  has  2  more  than 
Tommy;  how  many  have  they  both  together?  (three 
marks). 

Four  children  received  the  maximum  mark  of  14, 
and  four  received  0  marks.  The  average  for  Stand- 
ard La.  (boys)  was  about  9,  for  Standard  La.  (girls) 
about  7,  and  for  Standard  Lb.  (boys  and  girls) 
about  4V2.  In  summarizing,  the  marks  were  re- 
duced to  a  basis  of  10  as  a  maximum. 

I  propose  first  to  give  the  grand  summary  of  re- 
sults. 


TABLE  XXXIV. 

School  "W." 

Infants. 

Average  age  on 

No.  of 

Average  mark  per 

Age  on  entry. 

31,  7,  '07. 

children. 

subject. 

3— 3y2 

7  yrs.  10  mths. 

7 

5.1 

3y2— i 

7  yrs.    7  mths. 

14 

4.4 

4 — 4y2 

7  yrs.    8  mths. 

32 

4.9 

4y2— 5 

7  yrs.    9  mths. 

34 

5.2 

6— 5y2 

7  yrs.    7  mths. 

20 

4.0 

5%— 6 

7  yrs.    7  mths. 

3 

3.9 

6— ey2 

7  yrs.    5  mths. 

1 

3.1 

I  think  we  can  say  definitely,  especially  when  we 
consider  the  comparative  ages  of  the  children  at  the 
time  they  did  these  exercises,  that,  until  an  entrance 
age  of  5  years  is  passed,  there  is  no  advantage  in 
an  earlier  as  against  a  later  age  in  entering  school; 
the  correlation  would  indeed  seem  slightly  in  the 
opposite  direction.  After  the  entrance  age  of  5 
there  is  a  drop,  not  very  large,  but  certainly  pres- 
ent ;  though  even  here  it  must  be  admitted  that  these 
children  are,  on  the  average, younger  than  the  groups 
entering  earlier,  except  the  children  who  enter  from 


76 


WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 


3V2-4,  who  are,  however,  found  to  be  superior.  The 
conclusion  is  considerably  strengthened  by  the  fig- 
ures for  the  particular  exercises. 

TABLE  XXXV. 

School  "W."    Infants. 


Age  on  entry. 

>w 

O 

6 

* 

3— 3% 

7 

3%-4 

14 

4-4% 

32 

41/0—5 

34 

6-«% 

20 

5y2— 6 

3 

6—6% 

1 

II 


5.8 
4.9 
5.0 
5.5 
4.2 
3.6 
4.3 


c-E 
5.7 
4.0 
4.3 
4.8 
4.3 
*6.0 
1.0 


'Ix 

a| 

4.0 
3.9 
5.0 
4.9 
3.3 
3.8 
2.2 


Bii 

a  a 
4.9 
4.7 
5.5 
5.8 
4.3 

•2.4 
2.9 


"These  are  averages  of  two  cases  only;  the  third  child  in  this 
group  was  not  present  when  these  exercises  were  done.  The  last  group 
consists  of  one  child  only. 


IV. 

AGE  OF  ENTRY  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  SOCIAL 
CIRCUMSTANCES  OF  THE  CHILDREN. 

I  am  quite  sure  that  many  of  my  readers  have 
gone  with  me  so  far,  but  have  felt  all  along*  that  I 
was  omitting  a  most  important  factor  bearing  on 
the  question  at  issue.  There  is  a  belief  widely  spread 
that  "Board  School"  children  go  to  school  at  3  years 
of  age  because  their  homes  are  invariably  poor,  their 
mothers  go  out  to  work  and  their  older  sisters  are 
"minding  baby."  I  do  not  wish  to  express  myself 
too  strongly,  because  I  am  aware  that  vehemence 
defeats  its  own  object;  but  I  do  wish  to  say  that 
whoever  is  of  opinion  that  the  parents  of  Board 
School  children  form  a  homogeneous  class  of  pov- 
erty-stricken and  otherwise  inferior  persons,  and 
that  all  the  children,  or  even  a  considerable  minority 
of  them,  come  from  unsatisfactory  homes  (except 
in  as  far  as  town  life  under  any  circumstances  may 
be  unsatisfactory),  is  not  even  at  the  commence- 
ment of  a  proper  understanding  of  the  big  educa- 
tional problems  of  London.  In  the  first  place,  the 
differences  in  bodily  growth  and  mental  proficiency 
between  the  children  attending  different  schools  is 
very  considerable.  I  have  taken  persons  accus- 
tomed to  anthropological  observation  rapidly  from 
one  of  the  worst  to  one  of  the  most  favourably  situ- 
ated schools,  and  they  have  expressed  unbounded 
astonishment  at  the  differences,  which  indeed  re- 


78  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

quire  no  extended  examination  to  become  apparent. 
Short,  restless,  wrinkled,  crafty,  unwholesome  look- 
ing children,  yet  muscularly  vigorous  and  with  a  dog- 
like attachment  to  their  teachers,  give  place  to  well- 
grown  boys  and  girls  (especially  girls),  open-faced, 
strong  and  quiet,  capable  of  sustained  mental  ap- 
plication and  bearing  themselves  as  though  their  re- 
spect for  their  teachers,  great  as  it  is,  were  never- 
theless balanced  by  much  respect  for  themselves. 

These  are  the  extremes ;  the  gradations  are  many. 
The  question  of  questions,  of  course,  is  just  how  far 
all  this  difference  is  due  to  hereditary  influence  and 
how  far  to  social  environment.  That  is  the  biggest 
question  with  which  the  Theory  of  Education  (I  in- 
clude now  more  than  Pedagogy)  has  to  deal.  Are 
we  by  free  education,  free  meals,  free  holidays,  in- 
creasing the  population  at  the  wrong  end,  or  are  we, 
on  the  contrary,  introducing  an  clement  of  strength 
into  the  population,  improving  and  so  eliminating 
the  inferiority  which  we  all  deplore?  Now  I  am 
not  unmindful  that  my  problem  in  this  paper  is 
really  only  a  part  of  this  vastly  greater  problem, 
which,  I  maintain,  can  never  be  solved  directly  for 
human  beings  without  anthropological  records 
which,  today,  no  one  has  either  adequate  means  or 
adequate  opportunity  of  making. 

But  even  the  partial  and  subsidiary  problems  con- 
nected immediately  with  my  own  investigation  may 
throw  some  reflected  light  on  the  larger  one.  In 
the  first  place,  we  shall  find  reason  to  believe  that 
the  solution  of  our  own  problem— the  effect  on  men- 
tal proficiency  of  early  entry  into  school — is  not 
arrived  at  by  believing  that  the  children  with  "poor" 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.      79 

homes  come  to  school  at  three,  those  from  better 
ones  at  four,  and  those  from  the  best  homes  of  all 
after  five  and  six  years  of  age.  Of  course,  we 
should  expect,  if  that  belief  were  true,  that  children 
from  "poor"  homes  entering  earlier  would  not  be 
in  advance  of  children  entering  later  who  came  from 
better  homes,  even  if  the  former  had  really  profited 
intellectually  by  their  longer  school  life.  It  is  cer- 
tainly true  that,  in  the  best  suburban  districts,  chil- 
dren begin  school  later  than  in  very  poor  neighbour- 
hoods; but  if  we  measure  these  against  each  other, 
we  are  comparing  children  who  are,  perhaps,  con- 
genially very  different;  at  any  rate  they  are  very 
differently  situated.  My  comparisons  have,  there- 
fore, been  limited  to  children  attending  the  same 
school. 

A  careful  reader  of  the  foregoing  statistics  will 
already  have  noticed  how  evenly  the  pupils  are 
spread  out  among  the  various  groups  of  entry.  Even 
in  the  poorest  school  selected,  the  number  coming 
in  from  3  to  3y2  years  of  age  is  not  greatly  in  ex- 
cess of  those  coming  later,  and  I  was  myself  aston- 
ished to  find,  notwithstanding  the  law  as  to  com- 
pulsory education,  what  a  large  proportion  come 
to  school  for  the  first  time  decidedly  over  5  years 
of  age.  But  are  not  the  children  who  come  in  at  3 
to  3y2  years  of  age  from  poorer  homes  than  those 
coming  in  from  3%  to  4  and  4  to  4V2  and  4%  to  5 
years  of  age? 

We  have,  however,  not  yet  decided  what  a  "poor" 
home  is.  In  consultation  with  Head  Teachers  I 
decided  that  a  poor  home  should  mean  for  us  one 
in  which  there  was  no  adequate  means  of  super- 


80  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

vision  if  the  child  were  not  at  school:  a  drunken 
mother  or  one  who,  without  grown-up  daughters 
at  home,  was  compelled  to  go  out  to  work,  implied 
such  a  home.  Obviously,  parental  neglect  constituted 
a  poor  home.  Having  settled  what  we  should  mean, 
the  Head  Teacher  and  the  Teacher  of  the  class  in 
consulation  marked  a  "P"  against  the  name  of  every 
child  on  the  schedules  who  came  within  our  definition. 
The  marking  in  different  schools  was,  I  believe, 
surprisingly  uniform;  but  if  it  were  not,  it  would 
not  affect  these  results,  unless  the  standard  varied 
within  the  same  school,  which,  I  think,  is  very  im- 
probable. Perhaps  the  reader  may  obtain  the  most 
satisfactory  comprehension  of  this  side  to  the  ques- 
tion if  I  present  the  results  in  some  sort  of  order 
beginning  with  the  schools,  whether  senior  or  in- 
fants' departments,  which  were  situated  in  the  best 
neighbourhoods. 

TABLE  XXXVI. 
School  "W."    Infants. 

Percentage  of 

Age  of  entry.  No.  of  entries.  No.  marked  P.  children  marked  P. 

"  3—3%  7  1  14.3 

3V2— 4  14  0  0 

4 — 4V>  32  2  6.2 

4'-.— 5  34  1  2.9 

5 — 51/2  20  1  5.0 

51/2—6  3  0  0 

6^6i/2  1  «>  (> 

The  number  of  such  children  in  this  school  is,  as 
we  should  expect,  extremely  small,  namely,  only  5 
children  out  of  111,  roughly  5  per  cent.,  and  of  these, 
be  it  noted,  only  one  child  comes  to  school  before  3y2 
years  of  age. 

Let  me  take  as  a  second  case  the  infants'  depart- 
ment of  another  well-situated  school. 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  81 

TABLE  XXXVII. 
School  "R."    Infants. 


Pi 

^rcentage  of 

Age  of  entry. 

No.  of  entries. 

No.  marked  P. 

child 

ren 

marked   T. 

3SY2 

9 

2 

22 

3y2— 4 

9 

0 

0 

4—4% 

13 

2 

18 

41/2—5 

33 

4 

12 

5—51/2 

23 

0 

0 

51/0—6 

8 

0 

0 

6—7 

4 

0 

0 

In  this  school  again  we  have  a  very  small  num- 
ber of  children  marked  P,  in  fact,  only  8  altogether ; 
and,  contrary  to  general  belief,  of  these  8  children, 
4  come  in,  not  at  3,  but  at  4y2  to  5  years  of  age. 

The  next  tabulation  shows  the  results  obtained 
from  a  similar  inquiry  in  the  Girls'  department  of 
the  same  school. 

TABLE  XXXVIII. 
School  "R."    Girls. 


Percentage  of 

Age  of  entry. 

No.  of  entries. 

No.  marked  P. 

children 

marked   P. 

3— 3y2 

32 

2 

6.2 

31/2—4 

26 

2 

7.6 

4 — 41/2 

30 

2 

6.6 

4%— 5 

63 

3 

4.7 

5—51/2 

64 

0 

0 

514—6 

13 

0 

0 

6— 6 1/2 

9 

0 

0 

6 1/2— 7 

4 

0 

0 

The  children  from  "poor"  homes  are,  as  we  should 
expect  in  a  school  of  this  kind,  very  few  in  number, 
but  they  are  spread  out  fairly  evenly  among  all  the 
groups  who  enter  before  5  years  of  age. 

I  present  next  the  results  from  three  departments 
of  a  school  well-situated,  but  comparatively  new,  and 


82 


WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 


consequently  attended  by  children  of  very  mixed 
character.  In  this  school  we  not  only  marked  the 
children  who  came  from  poor  homes,  but  also  marked 
those  who  came  from  specially  good  homes;  these 
cases  were  marked  "E." 

TABLE  XXXIX. 
School  "G."    Boys. 


I'croontajre 

IVrcontaKe 

Age    of 

No.  of 

No. 

No. 

nf  children 

of  children 

entrj . 

entries 

marked 

E.  ma 

rked  P. 

marked  E. 

marked  P. 

3—31/2 

12 

1 

3 

8.3 

25.0 

3%— 4 

7 

1 

2 

14.3 

28.6 

4—4y2 

8 

1 

1 

12.5 

12.5 

41/2—5 

16 

2 

2 

12.4 

12.5 

5—51/. 

12 

4 

0 

33.3 

0 

51/.—6 

2 

1 

0 

50.0 

0 

School 

"G." 

Girls. 

Percentage 

Percentage 

Ape  of 

No.  of 

No. 

No. 

of  children 

of  children 

entry. 

entries 

marked 

E.  marked  P. 

marked  E. 

marked  P. 

3—31/2 

7 

0 

2 

0 

28.6 

31/2—4 

4 

0 

1 

0 

26.0 

4—41/2 

15 

2 

1 

13.3 

6.6 

4%— 5 

10 

1 

2 

10.0 

20.0 

5—5% 

25 

4 

2 

16.0 

8.0 

51/2—6 

3 

1 

1 

33.3 

33.3 

School  "G."     Infants. 


Alv    of 

entry. 

3—31/. 
31/2—4 
4— 4i/> 
41/2—5 
5—51/2 


Percentage 

1'errentage 

No.  of 

No. 

No. 

<if  children 

of  ehildren 

entries 

marked 

B. 

marked  P. 

marked  E. 

marked  P. 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

7 

1 

1 

U.3 

14.3 

18 

4 

6 

22.2 

33.3 

24 

7 

3 

2!».2 

12.5 

18 

2 

4 

11.1 

22.2 

It  is,  perhaps,  worth  noting  that,  in  this  case,  a 
fair  proportion  of  children  marked  "P"  came  in 
after  5  years  of  age,  and  it  is  worth  noting  also 


AGE  OF  ENTRY  AND  SCHOOL  PROGRESS.       83 

that  the  larger  proportions  of  the  children  marked 
"E"  came  to  school  before  5  years  of  age. 

The  next  results  presented  are  from  the  Boys' 
and  Girls'  departments  of  a  school  which  I  have  de- 
scribed as  situated  in  a  rather  poor  neighbourhood, 
but  which,  during  the  period  which  my  report  covers, 
was  not  attended  by  very  poor  children. 


TAI 

5L1 

E 

XL 

School  "S. 

>  > 

Boys. 

Percentage  of 

s  of  entry. 

Xo.  of  entries. 

Nc 

1.  marked  1*. 

children 

marked  P. 

3— 3% 

57 

7 

12.2 

31/,— 4 

25 

1 

4.0 

4—41/2 

28 

2 

7.1 

4y2— 5 

32 

4 

12.5 

5— 5y2 

28 

2 

7.1 

5%— 6 

9 

0 

0 

6— 6y2 

1 

0 

0 

6y2— 7 

1 

0 

0 

It  may  be  worth  noting  that  6  out  of  16  children 
marked  "P"  entered  school  after  4^2  years  of  age. 


School  "S. 

>  j 

Girls. 

Percentage  of 

!  of  entry. 

No.  of  entries. 

No. 

marked  P. 

children 

marked  P. 

3—31/2 

61 

9 

14.7 

3i/2—4 

46 

4 

8.6 

4—4% 

45 

4 

8.8 

41/2—5 

31 

5 

16.1 

5—51/2 

41 

3 

7.3 

In  this  case  even  a  larger  proportion  of  the  chil- 
dren marked  "P"  came  to  school  after  4Vo  years 
of  age. 

The  next  results  are  those  from  School  "C,"  an 
infants'  department  in  a  medium  neighbourhood.  In 
this  case,  as  in  School  "G,"  the  school  was  small 


84  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

and  the  circumstances  of  the  children  well  known  to 
the  Head  Mistress;  we  therefore  marked  also  the 
children  with  specially  good  homes;  these,  as  before, 
were  marked  "E." 

TABLE  XLI. 
School  "C."    Infants. 


Age  of 

No.  of 

No. 

No. 

Percentage 

Percentage 

entry. 

entries. 

marked  B. 

marked  P. 

marked  ES. 

marked   P. 

3— 3M, 

8 

5 

1 

62 

12 

3%— 4 

6 

4 

1 

66 

13 

4 — 4% 

12 

1 

2 

8 

16 

4%— 5 

9 

3 

0 

33 

0 

5— 5y, 

8 

4 

2 

50 

25 

It  is  worth  noting  that  the  highest  percentages  of 
children  marked  "E"  are  among  the  earlier  entering 
groups,  and  the  highest  percentage  of  children 
marked  "P"  is  to  be  found  in  the  group  of  children 
who  enter  school  after  5  years  of  age. 

The  next  results  are  those  from  School  "0.  K.", 
which  I  have  previously  described  as  a  new  school 
situated  in  a  poor  neighbourhood. 

TABLE  XLII. 
School  "O.K."    Infants. 

Ape  of  No.  of  No.  \<>.  Percentage      rereentage 


entry. 

entries. 

marked  K. 

marked  P, 

marked  ES. 

marked   r 

3—3V2 

14 

2 

1 

14.3 

7.1 

3V2-4 

12 

1) 

2 

(I 

16.6 

4—41/2 

6 

1 

0 

16.6 

0 

41/2—5 

13 

4 

0 

30.7 

0 

5—5% 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

This  distribution  more  nearly  accords  with  that 
accepted  by  popular  opinion  than  that  of  any  other 
school  in  which  my  inquiry  was  made;  but  even  here 
we  find  14  per  cent,  of  the  earliest  entering  group  are 
marked  as  coming  from  specially  good  homes. 


AGE   OF    ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  85 

School  "O.K."    Boys. 


Age  of 

No.  of 

No. 

No. 

Percentage 

Percentage 

entry. 

entries. 

marked  E. 

marked  P. 

marked 

E. 

marked   P. 

3—3% 

23 

0 

2 

0 

8.6 

31/2—4 

15 

2 

1 

13.3 

6.6 

4—41/2 

17 

3 

2 

17.6 

11.7 

4ya— 5 

18 

1 

1 

5.5 

5.5 

5— 5y2 

23 

4 

1 

17.4 

4.3 

The  following  table  gives  the  results  from  a  Boys' 
department  situated  in  a  very  poor  neighbourhood : 

TABLE  XLIII. 

School  "S.  A."    Boys. 


Age  of 

No.  of 

No. 

No. 

Percentage 

Pe 

rcentage 

entry. 

entries. 

marked  E. 

marked  P. 

marked  E. 

marked   P. 

3— 3y2 

102 

10 

27 

10 

26 

31/2—4 

60 

4 

19 

7 

32 

4-^y2 

50 

5 

11 

10 

22 

4y2— 5 

42 

4 

10 

9 

24 

5—51/2 

26 

3 

6 

11 

23 

As  was  to  be  expected,  there  is  a  very  much  larger 
number  of  children  marked  "P,"  but  it  is  worth 
noting  that  the  proportion,  both  of  those  marked 
"E"  and  those  marked  "P,"  is  fairly  evenly  dis- 
tributed between  all  the  groups  of  entry. 

Finally,  I  present  the  results  of  an  inquiry  into 
the  cases  of  all  the  infants  promoted  in  one  year 
(1905)  to  the  senior  department  of  a  school  in  an 
extremely  poor  neighborhood. 


TABLE 

XLIV. 

School  " 

N." 

Promoted  Infants. 

Age  of 
entry. 

No.  of  entries 
Boys.      Girl 

s. 

No.  : 
Boj 

marked  P. 
rs.    Girls. 

Percentage 

marked  P. 

Boys.          Girls. 

3—31/2 
31/2—4 
4— 4% 
4%— 5 

5—51/2 

3 

10 

12 

8 

6 

5 

5 

15 

11 

4 

3 
2 
2 
3 
2 

2 
2 
3 

3 
1 

100              40 
20              40 
17              20 
37             27 
33             25 

S(>  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

Summing  up  the  evidence  of  this  section,  I  think 
we  can  say  with  confidence  that  children  from 
"poor"  homes  not  only  do  not  exclusively  form  the 
early  entering  groups  of  Board  School  children,  but 
that  they  are  fairly  distributed  among  the  various 
ages  of  entry  and  that,  even  in  the  poorest  neigh- 
bourhoods, a  fair  proportion  of  them  come  after  5; 
that  is,  after  the  limit  of  the  compulsory  school  age 
is  passed.  But  the  popular  notion,  namely,  that  the 
children  from  "poor"  homes  all  come  to  school  at 
3  years  of  age,  and  all  the  children  from  "good" 
homes  at  5  years  of  age,  is  not  entirely  incorrect. 

Can  we  test  the  point  by  summarizing  the  results 
from  all  the  schools  dealt  with!  In  this  case  I  think 
we  can  safely  do  so,  since  the  standard  for  "poor 
homes"  was  the  same,  however  variously  the  schools 
were  situated. 


TABLE  XLV. 

All  schools. 

e  "f   ''ntry. 

Total   ontries.           ma 

Total 
rked  I\ 

IVrcontnRO 
marked  P. 

3—3% 

31/2—4 
4—4% 
4V>—5 
5—51/2 
51/2—6 

341 
246 
301 
344 
302 
38 

62 
38 
40 
41 
24 
1 

18.2 
15.4 
13.3 

ll.!» 
7.0 
2.6 

The  summarized  table  shows  that  there  is  approxi- 
mately the  same  number  of  children  from  "poor 
homes"  entering  from  3y2  to  4,  from  4  to  4i/2,  and 
from  41/0  to  5;  a  much  larger  number  entering  from 
3  to  3y2  and  a  much  smaller  number  entering  after  5. 

Are  we  entitled  to  suppose  that  the  earlier  enter- 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  87 

ing  groups  would  have  shown  greater  proportional 
progress  than  the  groups  who  enter  later  if  the  pro- 
portion of  children  marked  "P"  had  been  as  high  in 
the  later  as  in  the  earlier  groups?  Let  us  test  this 
hypothesis  in  one  or  two  cases,  selecting  those  most 
obviously  favourable  to  it,  namely,  those  in  which 
we  have  a  large  proportion  of  children  marked  "P." 

TABLE  XL VI. 
School  "S.  A."    Boys.     (See  Table  XLIII.) 


Age  of 
entry. 

Total 
entries. 

Average 

progress 

mark. 

Entries 
excluding 

"poor" 
children. 

Average 
progress   mark. 

3—3% 

102 

15.4 

76 

17.2 

3%— 4 

60 

11.5 

40 

13.3 

4—4% 

50 

13.6 

39 

14.1 

4%— 5 

42 

10.9 

32 

12.4 

5— 5y> 

26 

4.4 

20 

5.1 

It  is  obvious  that  the  elimination  of  the  poor  chil- 
dren has  slightly  raised  the  progress  marks  of  each 
section,  the  mark  of  the  group  entering  from  3 
to  3y2  by  1.8;  that  of  the  group  entering  from  3y2 
to  4  by  1.8;  that  of  the  4  to  4y2  group  by  .7;  that  of 
the  4i/2  to  5  group  by  1.5;  and  that  of  the  latest 
entering  group  by  .7.  But  the  elimination  has  left 
the  relationship  between  the  progress  marks  of  the 
various  groups  practically  unchanged.  We  have  no 
need,  apparently,  even  in  very  poor  schools,  to  con- 
sider the  inclusion  of  the  marks  of  the  "poor"  chil- 
dren within  the  grouped  averages  as  vitiating  the 
conclusion  which  would  be  drawn  from  the  tables 
if  the  "poor"  children  were  excluded.  Let  me  take 
one  further  illustration. 


Entries 

Average 

excluding 

Age   of 

Total 

progress 

"poor" 

entry. 

entries. 

mark. 

children. 

3—3% 

til 

19.4 

52 

3y2— 4 

4G 

17.9 

42 

4—41/2 

45 

20.8 

41 

4y2— 5 

31 

16.3 

26 

5—51/2 

41 

13.7 

38 

88  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

TABLE  XLVIL 
School  "S."    Girls.    (See  Table  XL.) 


Average 
progress  mark. 

21.3 
18.6 
21.4 
16.1 
13.6 

The  elimination  of  the  "poor"  children  has  had 
very  little  influence  on  the  averages;  in  the  later 
entering  groups  it  has  even  depressed  them  slightly. 
But  the  important  point  is  that  the  relation  between 
the  averages  of  the  various  groups  remains  prac- 
tically unchanged. 

In  the  case  of  many  schools  it  is  obvious  at  a 
glance  that  the  number  of  "poor"  children  in  each 
group  is  quite  insufficient  seriously  to  affect  the 
average  for  the  group;  and  I  have  shown  in  two 
cases  where  a  considerable  number  of  poor  children 
are  to  be  found  that  the  elimination  of  their  marks 
leaves  the  relationship  between  the  marks  of  the 
groups  who  enter  at  different  ages  practically  un- 
changed. 


V. 

INFLUENCE   OF  EARLY  ENTRY  ON   BEHAVIOUR 

AND    ATTENTIVENESS. 

Experienced  Head  Teachers  of  Infants'  depart- 
ments, so  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  have  always 
been  divided  as  to  the  value  of  school  attendance 
for  children  under  five  as  far  as  intellectual  pro- 
ficiency and  subsequent  school  progress  were  con- 
cerned. But  there  was  much  less  division  of  opinion 
on  the  question  I  now  propose  to  answer. 

In  what  way,  if  at  all,  do  children  who  enter  school 
at  3  years  of  age  differ  from  those  who  enter  later 
in  their  subsequent  behaviour  and  attention  in 
school? 

The  Head  Mistresses  I  questioned  were  unani- 
mously in  favour  of  the  opinion  that  early  entry 
meant  better  behaviour  and  improved  and  sustained 
power  of  attention.  I  could  not  find  that  any  at- 
tempt had  actually  been  made  to  investigate  the  mat- 
ter ;  but  that  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at ;  the  affirm- 
ative answer  seems  self-evident. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  any  of  my  readers  will  doubt 
that  the  teachers  who  are  teaching  the  children  are 
competent  to  give  them  a  satisfactory  mark  for  be- 
haviour. They  were  asked  to  keep  their  children 
under  careful  observation  with  the  problem  of  allot- 
ting a  "conduct  mark"  in  mind.  In  some  schools, 
indeed,  a  conduct  mark  is  regularly  given  as  part  of 
the  terminal  examination. 


90  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

But  what  exactly  do  we  mean  when  we  try  to 
measure  attentiveness?  Attention  has  no  meaning 
apart  from  some  activity  or  function  within  which 
it  is  working.  The  very  form  of  the  word  indicates 
that  attention  must  be  ' '  to "  something.  What,  then, 
can  we  mean  by  a  measure  of  attention?  A  child, 
for  example, — it  is  an  extreme  case — may,  as  we 
say,  have  no  more  attention  to  give  to  hitting  bulls '- 
eyes,  but  plenty  for  solving  quadratic  equations.  Re- 
verse the  illustration,  and  my  reader  will  more  read- 
ily accept  my  standpoint.  How  then  can  I,  holding 
this  view,  obtain  a  numerical  evaluation  of  attention 
per  sef 

Teachers  had  argued  that  children  who  came  at 
three  years  of  age  were  more  attentive  than  those 
who  entered  school  later;  and  they  meant  by  this 
that  they  appeared  to  listen  better  to  their  teachers 
and  to  try  harder  and  more  continuously  to  do  the 
school  work  which  was  set  them  to  do,  or  which 
they  undertook  for  themselves.  Roughly  speaking, 
if  they  were  attentive  in  many  ways  and  to  many 
things,  they  were  regarded  as  deserving  a  high 
mark.  In  the  schools  in  which  an  'attention'  mark 
was  given  to  individual  pupils,  I  was  able  to  obtain 
the  services  of  the  teacher  of  the  class  and  of  the 
Head  Mistress.  They  jointly  decided  as  to  the  mark 
deserved  by  each  pupil. 

I  took  no  observations  in  senior  departments, 
since  those  from  the  first  cases  in  infants'  depart- 
ments were  so  conclusive  that  I  thought  it  unneces- 
sary to  go  further. 

I  give  first  the  results  from  School  "C,"  in  which 
my  readers  may  remember  there  was  perhaps  some 


AGE   OF   ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  91 

very  slight  intellectual  advantage  from  earlier  as 
compared  with  later  entry  into  school.  In  this  school 
the  mark  for  behaviour  and  attentiveness  was  given 
as  a  combined  one. 

TABLE  XL VIII. 

School  "C."    Infants. 


Average 

mark  for  behaviour 

■  of  entry. 

No.  of  entries. 

and  attentiveness. 

3— 3% 

8 

7.5 

3y2— 4 

6 

7.0 

4— 4y2 

12 

6.1 

4y2— 5 

9 

6.4 

5— 51- 

8 

7.2 

5i/2—6 

4 

7.7 

It  is  probable,  from  the  appearance  of  these  aver- 
ages, that  there  is  a  slight  negative  correlation,  if 
any,  between  length  of  school  life  and  conduct  and 
attentiveness.  It  is  well  to  turn  to  the  table  which 
shows  for  this  school  the  number  of  children  who 
come  from  specially  good  and  from  poor  homes 
(Table  XLI.) ;  and  it  will  be  found,  I  think,  that  the 
variations  in  the  homes  of  the  children  do  not  ac- 
count for  the  increase  of  the  mark,  which  coincides 
with  a  later  age  for  eomruencing  school. 

The  next  results  are  those  from  the  infants'  de- 
partment of  School  "R."  No  attempt  was  made  to 
give  a  mark  for  behaviour;  it  was  sufficiently  obvi- 
ous that  the  'bad  cases'  had  not  entered  at  any  par- 
ticular age ;  but  great  care  was  given  to  the  assess- 
ment of  the  mark  for  attentiveness. 


92  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 


TABLE 

WAX. 

School  "R.' 

'    Infants. 

Age  of  em  i.v. 

No, 

Of    pupils. 

Average  mark  for  attentiveness. 

3—31/2 
31/2—4 
4—41/2 
I '  • — 5 
5—51/2 

9 

10 

13 
33 
23 

6.5 
7.2 
6.6 
7.2 
6.5 

51/2—6 
6—7 

8 
4 

8.0 
6.5 

The  only  conclusion  we  can  draw  is  that,  by  the 
time  the  age  of  7Vt>  years  is  reached,  the  age  of  en- 
try, in  so  far  as  the  development  of  good  behaviour 
and  attentiveness  is  concerned,  is  irrelevant. 

In  the  next  school  I  obtained  separate  marks  for 
Conduct  and  Attentiveness. 

TABLE  L. 
School  "G."     Infants. 

No.  of                    Condmt.  Attentiveness, 

Age  of  entry.              children.  average  mark.  average  mark. 

31/2—4'                      5                              6.8  7.0 

4 — 41/2                      14                              7.3  8.2 

4V2— 5                     21                              7.0  7.5 

5— 5i...                     11                             7.7  7.0 

There  appears  to  be  a  very  slight  disadvantage  in 
early  entry  as  far  as  conduct  is  concerned  and  a 
very  slight  advantage  so  far  as  attentiveness  is  con- 
cerned, but  so  slight  as  to  be  doubtful  in  both  cases 
as  to  whether  it  exists  or  not. 

In  the  next  school  also  I  was  able  to  obtain  a 
separate  mark  for  Behaviour  and  Attention. 


AGE   OF    ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PROGRESS.  93 

TABLE  LI. 
School  "0.  K."    Infants. 


No.  of 

Conduct, 

Attentiveness, 

j  of  entry. 

children. 

average  mark. 

average  mark. 

3—3% 

14 

7.7 

7.5 

3%— 4 

12 

6.5 

7.4 

4 — 41/2 

6 

8.6 

8.8 

41/2—5 

13 

7.4 

8.1 

5—51/2 

4 

8.0 

7.7 

It  is  fairly  certain  even  from  the  inspection  of 
these  averages  that  the  advantage  in  conduct  and  at- 
tention does  not  lie  with  the  groups  of  early  entry. 
It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  only  chil- 
dren in  this  department  marked  as  coming  from 
poor  homes  are  in  the  first  two  groups ;  the  subtrac- 
tion of  these  cases,  however,  still  leaves  the  average 
mark  in  the  two  early  groups  lower  than  in  the  later 
ones. 

Finally,  I  give  the  mark  for  attentiveness,  ob- 
tained after  a  month's  observation  by  new  teachers, 
of  the  infants  promoted  to  the  girls'  and  boys'  de- 
partments of  School  "N,"  which,  my  reader  may 
remember,  was  situated  in  an  extremely  poor  dis- 
trict. 

TABLE  LII. 

School  "N."    Promoted  Infants. 


No.  of 

Power  of  attention, 

Age  of  entry. 

children. 

average  mark. 

M.    V. 

3—31/2 

8 

6.2 

1.7 

31/2—4 

15 

6.1 

1.6 

4—41/2 

27 

6.4 

1.9 

4y2— 5 

19 

7.1 

2.1 

5—51/2 

10 

5.6 

2.0 

VI. 
SUMMARIZED  CONCLUSIONS. 

It  is  not  usually  an  easy  thing  to  present  sum- 
marized conclusions  which  are  not  misleading,  but 
I  think  in  the  case  of  this  inquiry  it  will  be  easier 
than  usual  on  account  of  the  uniformity  of  the  re- 
sults. I  think  my  reader  will  accept  the  following 
as  what  an  American  would  call  conservative  con- 
clusions, by  which,  if  I  understand  him  rightly,  he 
means  conclusions  that  are  very  fully  justified  by 
the  facts. 

1.  That  from  the  entrance  age  of  three  to  five, 
early  entrance  confers  no  intellectual  advantage  on 
the  child,  either  in  his  infant  school  work  or  in  his 
subsequent  progress  in  later  school  life. 

2.  That  there  is  some  reason  to  suppose  that  chil- 
dren who  enter  after  5  years  of  age  show  some  re- 
tardation in  subsequent  school  progress.  In  some 
schools  that  was  by  no  means  the  case;  in  the  one 
indubitable  case,  School  "S.  A.,"  it  might  be  ex- 
plained by  special  difficulties  of  organisation;  but 
there  are,  I  think,  minor  indications  here  and  there 
which  collectively  make  it  likely  that,  at  least  in 
poor  districts,  a  child  who  enters  much  after  5  will 
suffer  intellectual  loss.  But  I  am  fully  conscious 
that  these  children  who  enter  after  5  are  ''selected" 
children.  Some  are  weak  in  health,  some  come  from 
very  good  homes  and  have  had  a  good  deal  of  in- 
struction at  home,  and  some  have  been  driven  into 


AGE   OF    ENTRY   AND   SCHOOL   PEOGEESS.  95 

school  by  the  compulsory  attendance  officials.  So 
that  I  feel  little  confidence  in  any  conclusion  con- 
cerning children  who  begin  school,  as  these  do,  after 
the  compulsory  age.  But  as  the  proportion  of  chil- 
dren with  'poor  homes'  who  enter  after  5  is  very 
small,  it  is  probable  that  the  home  circumstances  of 
this  group  are,  on  the  whole,  above  the  average. 
If  this  is  so,  there  is  ground  for  supposing  that  entry 
after  5  is  somewhat  disadvantageous. 

3.  That  these  conclusions  are  quite  independent  of 
the  particular  form  of  teaching  adopted.  The  great 
elasticity  of  the  English  elementary  educational 
system,  obtaining  more  especially  during  the  last 
ten  years,  has  given  rise  to  a  number  of  widely  vary- 
ing schools,  diverse  both  in  results  and  methods. 
I  was  careful  to  include  schools  of  different  ideals 
and  different  methods  in  the  range  of  my  inquiry. 
Identical  results  are  found  in  schools  in  which  the 
youngest  classes  did  nothing  but  "kindergarten" 
work,  and  in  schools  in  which  no  "kindergarten" 
work  was  done. 

4.  That,  even  in  poor  neighbourhoods,  only  a  small 
proportion  of  children  now  avail  themselves  of  the 
permission  to  come  to  school  at  3,  and  may  come 
after  5 — the  compulsory  school  age — is  passed. 

5.  That  children  who  come  from  very  poor  homes, 
that  is,  from  homes  in  which  there  is  no  adequate 
supervision  for  the  young  child,  are  smaller  in  num- 
ber than  is  generally  supposed ;  and  that,  even  under 
present  conditions,  such  children  commence  to  at- 
tend school  not  at  one  special  age,  but  fairly  evenly, 
in  the  same  proportions  as  the  other  children,  be- 
tween the  ages  of  3  to  5^  years.     But  not  quite 


96  WHEN    SHOULD   A   CHILD   BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

evenly;  there  is  some  positive  correlation  be- 
tween 'poor  homes'  and  early  entry.  There  are 
probably  rather  more  children  in  the  schools  who 
come  from  'poor  homes'  than  are  scheduled  here. 
For  no  child  is  scheduled  who  has  not  passed  his 
whole  school  life  within  the  same  school — a  condi- 
tion which,  of  necessity,  excludes  the  ''floating" 
population,  among  which  a  larger  proportion  of  chil- 
dren with  poor  homes  is  to  be  expected  than  amongst 
the  remaining  children.  An  important  point  is  that 
the  elimination  of  children  with  "poor  homes"  from 
the  schedules  leaves  the  main  contention  (conclu- 
sion 1)  unaffected. 

6.  That  no  advantage  appears  to  exist  in  early 
entry  so  far  as  the  subsequent  attainment  of  good 
behaviour  and  the  development  of  attentiveness  are 
concerned. 


INDEX. 

Age  of  entry  into  school  in — 

America,  7,  8. 

England,  7,  8,  77,  79,  80,  95. 

Germany,  7,  8. 
Attention,  how  measured,  90. 

"Board  School"  children,  social  circumstances  of,  77,  78. 

Conduct  marks,  how  given,  89. 

Congestion  in  schools,  influence  on  classification,  37. 

Correlation  formula,  use  illustrated,  3. 

Curriculum,  Higher  Grade,  influence  on  classification,  31. 

Early  entry  and  intelligence,  45,  61. 

Elementary  schools,  London,  suggested  grading  of,  62. 

Environment,  social,  and  hereditary  influence,  78. 

Floating  population  and  poor  homes,  96. 
Formula  of  correlation,  use  illustrated,  3. 

Grading,  suggested,  of  London  elementary  schools,  62. 

Hereditary  influence  and  social  environment,  78. 
Higher  grade  curriculum,  influence  on  classification,  31. 
Homes,  poor,  definition  of,  79,  80. 
Homes,  poor,  and  floating  population,  90. 

Imagination  exercises,  73. 

Immediate  memory  exercises,  71,  72. 

Infants'  departments,  Standard  I  tests,  41,  46,  50,  58,  63,  69. 

Intelligence  and  early  entry,  45,  61. 

"Kindergarten"  methods,  prolongation  of,  31,  58,  60. 
"Kindergarten"  methods,  influence  of,  68,  70. 

London  elementary  schools,  suggested  grading  of,  62. 

Marks  for  conduct,  how  given,  89. 

Marks  for  progress,  how  estimated,  10,  11. 

Marks  for  terminal  examinations  explained,  18,  21. 

Mean  Variation  (M.  V.)  explained,  14. 

Memory,  immediate,  exercises,  71,  72. 

Mental  proficiency  and  school  examinations,  67. 


98  WHEN    SHOULD    A    CHILD    BEGIN    SCHOOL. 

Methods,  "Kindergarten,"  prolongation  of,  ::i.  r.s,  on. 
.Methods,  "Kindergarten,"  Influence  of,  08.  70. 

Normative  progress  explained,  10. 

Observation  exercises,  73. 

Organisation  of  schools,  importance  <>f  understanding,  is.  49. 

Poor  homes,  definition  of,  79,  80. 
Poor  homes,  and  floating  population,  96. 
Proficiency,  mental,  and  school  examinations,  67. 
Progress  marks,  how  estimated.  10,  11. 
Progress,  normative,  explained,  10. 
Progress,  schedules  of.  how  made  out,  L3. 
Progress,  school  records  of,  importance  of,  35. 
Psychological  tests,  71,  72,  73,  74. 

Reasoning  exercises,  74. 

Records  of  progress,  school,  importance  of,  35. 

Schedules  of  progress,  how  made  out,  13. 

School  examinations  and  mental  proficiency,  67. 

School  organization,  Importance  of  understanding,  48,  49. 

School  records  Of  progress,  importance  of,  35. 

School  "Standards."  nature  of,   11. 

Social  circumstances  of  "Board  School"  children,  77,  78. 

Standard  I  tests  in  Infants'  departments,  41,  46,  50,  58,  63,  69. 

Terminal  examination  mark  explained,  18,  21. 

Tests  for  Standard  I  in  Infants'  departments.   11,  46,  50,  58,  63,  »!'.). 
Tests,  psychological,  71,  1-,  73,  74. 


v>M 


t 


AA    000  783 


988    9 


SUBNORMAL  SCHOOL, 


